


Dawn on the Hellmouth.

by steeleye



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Reality, Alternate Universe - Dark, F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-20
Updated: 2015-01-28
Packaged: 2018-03-08 09:50:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 9
Words: 28,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3204836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steeleye/pseuds/steeleye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dark fic, includes non-consensual sex. Harris was dead, Faith smiled as she put away her pistol, the Colt's .45 calibre bullet had made a neat hole in the back of his skull and had blown out the front of his head.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Dawn on the Hellmouth.

By Steeleye.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Everything you don't recognise comes from my own warped imagination. I write these stories for fun not profit.

 **Crossover:** Non-crossover.

 **Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar:** Written in glorious English-English which is different to American-English.

 **Timeline:** BtVS, Season Five, alternate reality.

 **Words:** Nine chapters of 3000+ words.

 **Warnings:** Dark, includes death, violence and rape.

 **Summary:** Dark fic, includes non-consensual sex. Harris was dead, Faith smiled as she put away her pistol, the Colt's .45 calibre bullet had made a neat hole in the back of his skull and had blown out the front of his head.

0=0=0=0

**Author's Warning:** Some people will think that this fic is pretty dark. Well, it is for the first couple of chapters, after which it lightens up a little.

0=0=0=0

“NO PLEEEEEEZ!” Dawn begged as Buffy dragged her by the wrist back into the house, “I'll be good,” she cried as her sister pulled her across the kitchen floor, “I'm sorry!”

“SORRY!” Buffy stopped and turned on her sister angrily, “You let vampires into the house you stupid little bitch!”

“No! No!” Dawn shook her head as she sobbed, “It was an accident.”

“An accident?” Buffy demanded, “An accident?” she repeated, “Oh, 'please come on in and kill everyone', that was an accident?” Buffy let go of Dawn's wrist and pushed her up against the breakfast bar, “I think you wanted those vamps to get in, you wanted them to kill everyone...I think you wanted them to kill you!”

“AND WHY NOT!?” Dawn screamed back at her sister, “The way you treat me I might as well be dead!”

“Oh,” Buffy took a menacing step towards Dawn, “don't you worry, when the time comes I'll kill you myself.” By now Buffy's face had gone deathly pale and it was only inches away from Dawn's, “In the mean time you're going to stay alive until Giles works out what to do with you...”

“Please Buffy...” Dawn whimpered, but when she saw the look on Buffy's face she knew she'd made a _big_ mistake, “...No please!”

“Don't you ever, I mean _ever_ , call me by name again,” Buffy's face had turned white with rage as her body shook with barely controlled anger.

Lashing out with her right hand, Buffy slapped Dawn's face sending her flying across the kitchen. Bouncing off the fridge, Dawn crumpled to the floor clutching her cheek and bleeding lip with her hand. In an instant Buffy was standing over her again.

“You've no right to call me by my name!” Buffy snarled as she kicked Dawn viciously; causing the younger girl to cry out in pain as she tried to crawl away from her tormentor.

“Come back here you little bitch,” grabbing hold of Dawn by her long, lank, hair Buffy dragged her to her feet again.

“I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Miss Summers,” Dawn pleaded, “I promise I won't do it again...it was just a slip of the tongue.”

“Slip of the tongue, huh?” her hand a blur, Buffy reached out and took hold of one of the kitchen knives and held it against Dawn's face, “maybe I should cut it out then, you wouldn't be able to invite vampires in or call me by my name anymore.”

“Nooooo...please don't,” tears coursed down Dawn's cheeks as the last vestiges of her defiance deserted her, she started to sob uncontrollably as Buffy pulled her by the hair towards the basement door, “P-please...Bu...” Dawn managed to catch herself before she made another slip, she wasn't one-hundred percent certain that Buffy wouldn't cut her tongue out, “...please M-Miss S-Summers, please don't beat me again!”

They were now outside the basement door. Unlocking the multitude of bolts that secured the heavy metal door, Buffy pushed it open. Reaching around the reinforced door frame, she switched on the lights before throwing Dawn down the stairs into the basement below. Following Dawn down the stairs Buffy once again took hold of Dawn's hair and pulled her to her feet, before marching her across the bare concrete floor. Buffy didn't stop until she was under the spot where a pair of heavy, metal manacles hung from a pulley which had been secured firmly to the ceiling above.

Letting go of Dawn's hair, Buffy grabbed one of her sister's wrists and lifted it up above her head and secured it to one of the metal cuffs. Knowing it was pointless to resist, Dawn let her sister chain up both her wrists, she knew that her punishment was going to be bad because Buffy had gone quiet. The beatings she received were always worse when Buffy went quiet like this. But, it was her own fault, she should have known that Harmony and her gang of lame brain vampires would screw up. The truth was Dawn wanted to die, but Buffy wouldn't let her, next time Dawn'd get a more competent vampire, someone like Spike, he'd find a way to kill her.

Walking over to a metal box on the wall, Buffy switched a switch and an electric motor started to hum. Dawn felt herself being pulled towards the ceiling. The motor stopped when Dawn's toes were only just touching the floor and the metal cuffs were cutting cruelly into her wrists. Slowly Buffy walked back to stand in front of her sister.

“P-please...” Dawn begged softly, “...I'm your s-sister...please don't...”

“You're not my sister,” Buffy snarled quietly, “you're just a thing, a magical construct that those sick, bastard monks made to make me think you were my sister.” Buffy turned and took the whip from its hook on the wall, “I don't know why they didn't just destroy you in the first place.”

Walking behind Dawn, Buffy reached out and tore the t-shirt from Dawn's torso. Taking hold of the back of Dawn's bra she broke the clip and ripped it from her body. Groaning in fear and pain, Dawn felt Buffy's hot breath on her cheek. Just for a fleeting moment Dawn felt slight amusement at the thought of Buffy having to stand on tiptoe to bring her lips so close to her face.

“You killed my mother,” Buffy told Dawn for the thousandth time, “she died so that your worthless carcass could be brought into this world...and now you're going to pay!”

Abruptly Buffy wasn't by Dawn's ear anymore, gasping in fear, she knew what was coming now. Tensing as she heard the whip swish through the air Dawn screamed in agony as it cut across her back.

“Nooooooo! PLEEEEEEZ!” Dawn wailed as she waited for the next stroke to land, Buffy always waited for a good ten seconds between blows, that way each stroke hurt more.

“CRACK!” the whip landed once more drawing an extra loud scream from Dawn's throat as the leather bit into her flesh.

“P-p-please s-stop,” Dawn begged as she felt the blood start to trickle down her back and soak into the waist band of her jeans.

“Stop?” Buffy laughed humourlessly, “Stop? I've only just begun.”

“CRACK!” went the whip as it slashed across Dawn's back and wrapped itself around her body to catch her on the breast.

“AAAAAAGH!” Dawn's pain was beyond words now and she writhed in her bonds as she hung form the ceiling.

After delivering another three or four strokes; Buffy wasn't counting, she didn't care how much she hurt the _thing_ that had killed her mother and tried to convince her she was her sister. Standing back she watched dispassionately as the little rivulets of blood worked their way down _The Key's_ back. Smiling to herself, Buffy walked back to where Dawn hung. Standing in front of her she looked into its face and smiled.

“Hey! Bitch!” Buffy slapped Dawn's face until the girl's reddened eyes opened, “Not goin' to sleep on me are you? I mean, I've only just begun and my arm's not even tired yet!”

“Nononononono...” Dawn murmured weakly as she shock her head from side to side.

“Sorry, killer,” Buffy smirked as she started to unfasten Dawn's jeans before pulling them and her panties down around her ankles, “but I do need a new target.”

0=0=0=0

Eventually, this beating like all the others ended; Buffy had taken her time working over Dawn's buttocks and the backs of her thighs. When she did ultimately stop it was probably because she was bored, one thing was for sure, she didn't stop because she had any familial feelings for Dawn and even slayers got tired. Hanging the whip back up on its hook, Buffy walked over to stand in front of Dawn, she slapped her face until she groaned and showed some sign that she was more or less conscious. Reaching up, Buffy took hold of one of Dawn's nipples and twisted it viciously until the girl gasped with renewed pain.

“Hey, killer,” Buffy sneered as she twisted the girl's nipple even harder, “the next time you try to kill yourself you better do it right...” Buffy let go of the Dawn's nipple before letting her hand fall to her side, “...coz the next time I have to beat you I'm gonna whip those little boobs of yours right off!” Turning away from Dawn, Buffy walked towards the stairs, as she mounted the first step she stopped and glanced back over her shoulder and laughed, “Good night, Dawnie, sleep well!”

0=0=0=0

Climbing to the top of the stairs, Buffy pushed the door open and stepped out into the hallway where she met Willow who was just finishing sweeping up the remains of one of Harmony's gang.

“Hi Will,” Buffy said tiredly, “and thanks for doing that, I'm beat.”

“Not as _beat_ as Dawn,” Willow smirked, “you finished with her?”

“Yeah,” Buffy nodded as she headed for the stairs that led up to her room, “do what you want with her as long as she's alive in the morning.”

“Cool,” Willow put down her dustpan and brush before heading towards the door to the basement.

“Remember what I said,” Buffy warned as she switched off the lights before going to bed for the night, “you kill her or vamp her, I'll ram a redwood right through your chest.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever,” Willow replied as she paused in the doorway to the basement, she'd heard all these threats before, she shook her head as she morphed into her vampiric visage, “I'll be careful.”

“Mind you are,” Buffy called as she headed up the stairs towards her bed, “and thanks for totally helping out there Will...and please try not to make her scream too loudly.”

“I'll keep the door shut,” Willow promised as she closed the door behind her and headed on down the stairs.

“Yeah, right,” Buffy muttered as she headed on up the stairs; it'd had been a long day. 

Having worked two shifts at the Expresso Pump, Buffy had gone on patrol straight after work. After dusting a couple of vamps in one of Sunnydale's many graveyards she'd headed home hoping to be able to veg out for a while before going to bed. However, on reaching Revelo Drive she'd found the front door wide open and all the lights on. Realising there was something wrong she'd rushed into her house to find Willow fighting off Harmony's gang of morons while Dawn was almost throwing herself at the vampire's fangs. Worst was to come when Buffy saw Cordelia lying on the floor unconscious.

Working together, Willow and Buffy had dusted Harmony and her inept minions. Once the house was vampire free (Buffy didn't really count Willow as a blood sucking fiend), Buffy had tended to Cordelia. Luckily the girl wasn't seriously hurt, some tender-loving-care and a good night's sleep would see her well again. Coming back down stairs after putting Cordy to bed, Buffy had found Willow cleaning up the mess Harmony and her pack of no-brain half-wits had made. Getting a brush to help Willow in the clean up, Buffy had noticed Dawn trying to sneak out the back door. It was then that Buffy realised what Dawn had been trying to do. Grabbing the girl she'd dragged her back inside and leaving Willow to clean up on her own she'd taken her downstairs.

0=0=0=0

Pushing open the door to what had once been her mother's room, Buffy looked down at the bed to see Cordy's head resting on the pillow.

“I thought you'd be asleep by now,” Buffy said quietly, “you okay?”

“I'm fine,” Cordy replied sleepily, “I wanted to wait until you came to bed...y'know I totally can't sleep without you.”

“Yeah, right,” Buffy replied with a smile as she started to take off her clothes, “I'll be right there once I've had a shower...”

“You don't have to on my account,” Cordy pushed herself up in the bed a little and let the covers fall from her full breasts, “sweaty slayer has always been a big turn on for me.”

“Hey!” Buffy complained jokingly, “I'm not that stinky.”

“Whatever,” Cordy giggled, “get your clothes off and get into bed!”

“Look,” Buffy had already taken her top off and was standing dressed in her bra and jeans, “what's the hurry?”

“This is the hurry!” Cordy threw back the covers all the way, she was completely naked underneath.

“Wow,” Buffy smiled, as she pulled off her jeans, “being knocked on the head must be a big turn on for you too. Maybe I should get vamps to attack the house, like more often.”

Teasingly Buffy removed her bra and panties, before standing naked for Cordelia's pleasure.

“Okay,” Cordy got up on her knees and held out her arms to Buffy, “enough of the sexual torture, switch the light off and get into bed, like...NOW!”

“Bossy as ever,” Buffy muttered as she turned to switch the lights off before climbing into bed next to Cordy.

0=0=0=0

“Hi there, Dawnie,” Willow called softly as she made her way over to the girl as she hung from the ceiling.

The feelings of lust and hunger grew inside Willow as she moved closer to the helpless girl. Smelling the blood on Dawn's body and the girl's musty odour, Willow had to fight to control herself; she knew that whatever feelings Buffy might have for her, they wouldn't save her if she killed the girl. Buffy would stake her without a second thought.

Touching Dawn's shoulder near one of the cuts made by the whip, Willow felt the girl shiver at her touch, smiling she moved closer to the girl until her lips were almost touching her abused flesh. Licking the blood from the wound, Willow felt a shiver of desire course through her body. Dawn's blood was intoxicating to her, better by far than any alcohol or drugs. Dawn was made out of The Slayer and The Key, a heady mix that almost drove Willow into a feeding frenzy, keeping the thought of Buffy clutching a redwood sized stake foremost in her mind, Willow managed to keep control of herself...just. Moving slowly around the girl so she was standing in front of her, Willow smiled widely as she heard the girl whimper.

“Don't worry, Dawnie,” Willow crooned softly, “I'm here to make you feel all nice...”

Moving in on the girl, Willow kissed Dawn's swollen lips and tasted the blood in her mouth as she slipped her hand slowly from Dawn's cheek, down across the firm mounds of her breasts to eventually come to rest between her legs. Once again Dawn moaned but this time the sound wasn't all about pain and fear, in-spite of herself, Dawn felt her hips start to move in time to Willow's gently stroking fingers.

“That's it,” Willow whispered as she worked her lips down across Dawn's neck and chest until they hovered over her breast, “I told you Willow was here to make it all better.”

Sticking out her long tongue, Willow licked Dawn's nipple making it go suddenly hard as she slipped two fingers into the girl's vagina. Moaning loudly Dawn writhed as much as her bonds would allow, squeezing her thighs together she felt waves of pleasure emanate from her pussy as Willow's fingers slid in and out of her and her thumb rubbed against her clitoris. Willow's tongue traced lazy lines around Dawn's nipples making them grow harder and harder as Dawn's racing heart pumped blood to her breasts.

Crying out loudly as Willow's hand worked harder and faster on her sex, Dawn found herself losing control of her legs and hips. Squirming under Willow's hand Dawn found herself lifting her feet from the floor in her attempts to get more of Willow's hand inside her, even if this did mean all her weight was on her wrists, the pain seemed to make the pleasure more intense. Sucking on Dawn's nipple, Willow listened as the girl's moans warned her that she was nearing her orgasm. Just as Dawn gasped as the first waves of mind-numbing pleasure started to sweep through her body, Willow let Dawn's nipple slip from her mouth, drawing her head back a little she waited until Dawn's cries of pleasure grew louder and then just as the girl cried out in a mixture of ecstasy and agony, Willow sank her fangs into the firm flesh of Dawn's breast. Sighing with her own pleasure, Willow lapped up the blood as it oozed into her mouth. Hanging from her wrists, Dawn continued to moan and cry out as Willow's fingers slipped in and out of her drawing out her orgasm until she eventually passed out from blood loss.

Taking control of her own desire, Willow forced herself to let go of the girl's breast. Reluctantly she opened her mouth and pulled back her head. Grinning, she ran her fingers over the bite mark around Dawn's nipple, allowing herself one last lick of the blood that still oozed from the wounds on the girl's breast, Willow stepped back, shook her head and became a normal looking girl again.

“Nightie-night, Dawnie,” Willow said softly as she headed towards the stairs up to the main part of the house, “I'll see you again tomorrow...promise.”

0=0=0=0

“I still don't understand why Giles won't let you just kill her,” Cordelia lay in Buffy's arms; the sex hadn't been brilliant (after all she'd been hit over the head and Buffy was tired) but it was good enough to relax her so she'd eventually fall into a deep healing sleep, “Get it over with, y'know?”

“Look,” Buffy yawned, “we still don't know exactly what would happen if we did kill her,” Buffy shifted so she was lying looking into Cordy's eyes. “Giles thinks that it might open the Hellmouth, or Glory might go on tilt and destroy the world or any one of a hundred unpleasant things...”

“Or Glory might just go away forever and nothing bad happens,” Cordelia pointed out.

“Yeah, well,” Buffy shifted her body until it was tight up against Cordy's, “you wanna take the risk that its all puppies, kittens and boxes of chocolates after I slit the bitch's throat?”

“Whatever,” Cordy sighed as she snuggled up to Buffy's warm, sexy body.

“Your answer to everything,” Buffy giggled as she started to rub herself against Cordy's leg, “Tara's coming over in the morning, we'll see if she's found out anything useful.”

0=0=0=0


	2. Chapter 2

2.

It was Christmas eve and Dawn climbed out of bed to go in search of a glass of water. Clutching the arm of her favourite teddy bear she quietly opened her bedroom door and walked out into the corridor. Padding silently past her parent's and big sister's rooms, she came to the top of the stairs. Holding on to the banister rail real tight, she carefully made her way downstairs, she was only little and it was dark and she didn't want to fall. Safely at the foot of the stairs she turned to go through the family room and on into the kitchen.

Walking into the family room, Dawn was brought up short by the sight that greeted her eyes. There, in the corner of the room was the Christmas tree in all its glory. Standing there with her eyes and mouth wide open, Dawn thought she'd never seen anything so beautiful in all her life. There were fairy lights and tinsel and decorations that sparkled in the glow of the little coloured lights. But, best of all were the presents that lay stacked around the foot of the tree. Dawn almost rushed over to the tree and started to rip them open, but she managed to stop herself. Presents were for opening on Christmas morning with all the family sitting around the tree.

Clutching her bear to her chest, Dawn took a couple of uncertain steps towards the tree. It was so beautiful she was afraid that if she got too close it would vanish, but it was then she saw it. Looking up Dawn saw the star on the top of the tree. The light reflected from the fairy lights shimmered and seemed to mesmerise Dawn calling out to her and drawing her nearer. Dropping her toy bear on the floor, she reached out to the star, she wanted it so badly it almost hurt. Stretching her arms out above her head Dawn found she was too short to reach the star, standing on tiptoe she stretched as high as she could but she was still too short she'd never reach the star.

Slowly the room, the presents, the tree and its decorations and finally the star disappeared to be replaced by the cold, dark basement room that was her prison. Her tears made stars of the points of light that came in through the little holes drilled in the metal shutters over the windows. Looking up she saw her hands still held above her head just as Buffy had left her the previous night. Of course she'd long lost any feeling in her hands and arms, and the whip marks on her back and the bite marks around her breast were just a dull ache. However, she was now tormented by thirst, her torture was made worse by the fact she could see the washbasin and taps near her bed. Relief was only a few feet away but it might as well have been on the moon.

A few seconds later thirst was the least thing Dawn had to worry about as cramps twisted the muscles in her calves into knots. Crying out in pain, she forced her feet upwards making the chords of her muscles straighten out and the pain decrease as she swung gently back and forth from her wrists. Gingerly she reached out with a toe to try and take some of the weight off her arms, but as soon as she straightened her foot the cramps returned forcing her to lift her foot off the ground once more. Looking up through tear blurred eyes she saw a little trickle of blood run down her arm from her wrist; she wondered if Buffy would come and let her down sometime or whether she was going to be left like this all day.

0=0=0=0

Up in the kitchen Cordelia cleared up Buffy's and her own breakfast things. As she did so she smiled at the way she seemed to have fallen into the role of 'wife' and home-maker. Two things that she'd never thought she'd ever find herself doing. Buffy had taken Cordelia in when her parents had left the country hotly pursued by the IRS. The fact that they'd left their eighteen year old daughter behind in their rush to get to a country that didn't have an extradition treaty with the US didn't seem to have bothered them.

The two young women had been friends ever since the night Buffy had saved Cordelia from a vampire attack at the Bronze. On that night it was as if the scales had been lifted from Cordy's eyes as she suddenly saw Sunnydale for what it really was. Another effect of Buffy rescuing her was that Cordelia abruptly realised what a shallow, thoughtless bitch she'd been all for all these years. From that night onwards she'd dedicated herself to helping out whenever she could. So, when Cordelia turned up on Buffy's doorstep, penniless and alone, Buffy and her mother had taken her in. It was only later and as a result of having to share Buffy's bed for a few weeks because there was nowhere else for her to sleep, that Buffy and Cordelia became sexually attracted to each other.

A thought hit Cordelia like a sledgehammer wrapped in a feather pillow...she'd had to sleep in Buffy's bed because Dawn slept in the third bedroom, but Dawn hadn't existed then so in reality she must have slept in what was to be Dawn's room. Did this mean Cordelia's feeling for Buffy were fake? Did they only exist because a bunch of idiot, eastern European monks had played with everyone's minds so they could insert The Key into people's lives? These troubling thoughts were driven from Cordy's mind by the sound of someone knocking on the front door. Drying her hands on a towel before squirting some hand cream on them, Cordy headed for the door as she rubbed the cream into her skin. Opening the door she smiled when she saw who was there.

“Hi Tara!” Cordy called happily when she saw the witch, shifting her gaze she saw that Tara had brought her boyfriend with her, “Oh,” Cordy said a lot less enthusiastically, “hi Harris.”

Cordelia had had a short lived affair with Xander Harris a couple of years before her parents had headed for sunnier climes. Their relationship had finished when Cordy had found Xander with Willow behind the gym one afternoon. Cordy later found out that Xander had been two timing her with Willow for several months, of course this was all before Willow got herself vamped. If Harris had tried to two time Cordy with Vamp-Willow he'd have been sucked dry and dead by now; Cordy often wished that Willow had sunk her fangs into Harris' neck and left him as a dried out husk.

“Come in,” Cordelia smiled as remembered her manners, “I'm sorry but Buffy's at work and Willow's upstairs sleeping the sleep of the undead.”

Cordelia said this as she treated Harris to an extra hard look.

“Oh, t-that's okay,” Tara smiled as she lead Xander into the house and Cordy shut the door behind them, “I r-really only came to take some more samples from Dawn.”

Tara had been using Dawn's blood to conduct some magical experiments. For weeks she'd been getting nowhere fast, but just as she'd opened up a more promising line of research she'd run out of blood. The trouble was that even with refrigeration human whole-blood didn't last more than three or four days, so she could never store much of it at any one time.

“That's okay,” Cordy said as she lead the couple through the house, “she's down in her basement, but Buffy will be back just after two if you want to wait?”

“C-cool,” Tara smiled, “we'll wait if t-that's okay, but in the m-mean time I better see Dawn.”

“Well, like I say, she's downstairs,” Cordy gestured to the door of the basement before asking, “can I get you anything, coffee, juice...?”

“N-no t-thanks,” Tara shook her head, “maybe later.”

“Okay then,” Cordelia moved towards the kitchen, “I've got housework to do and there's dinner to prepare...” she turned back to look at Tara, “...you'll stay for dinner won't you?”

“Yeah, sure, t-thanks,” Tara smiled before turning to Xander, “C-come on Xan we better get on.”

“Sure thing, Taz,” Xander replied as he turned away from Cordelia giving her a suggestive wink as he did so.

Watching Tara and Harris head towards the basement, Cordy tried to burn holes in Harris' back with her eyes, of course it didn't work. You needed to be a powerful witch like Tara to be able to do stuff like that. The thought made Cordy smile, of course when Tara realised what a complete slime-ball Harris actually was, she'd no doubt do a lot more than burn holes through him, oh yes indeed. Perhaps she'd skin him alive; Cordy hoped she'd be there to see that when it happened. Shrugging away visions of Harris screaming in agony as Tara magically flayed him alive, Cordelia opened the fridge and got some chicken pieces out to defrost. By the time she'd finished her other household chores it would be defrosted and she'd be able to prepare dinner for everyone...perhaps she'd put something special in Harris' meal.

0=0=0=0

Standing at the foot of the basement steps, Tara saw Dawn hanging from her wrists in the centre of the room.

“Oh, d-darn,” Tara cursed under her breath as she took the keys from the hook by the stairs, then aloud she added, “I wish Buffy wouldn't leave her like that, eventually she'll lose function in her hands.”

Walking across the room to where Dawn hung, Tara stopped in front of the girl and pulled open her eyelids to check her responses, the girl moaned softly as Tara touched her.

“P-please don't hurt me,” Dawn whispered through dry lips. 

“I'm not going to hurt you,” Tara said not stuttering once, oddly she didn't stutter when she was angry, “Xan,” she walked across the room to where the box on the wall that controlled the pulley that held Dawn up was situated, “catch her when I let her down.”

“Sure thing,” Xander smiled as she ran his eye over Dawn's beaten and abused body and felt himself start to grow hard.

The electric motor began to hum and Dawn collapsed into Xander's waiting arms as the cable attached to the girl's manacles let her slump down off her tiptoes. Rushing back over to where Xander held Dawn, Tara quickly unlocked the cuffs from around her wrists.

“Put her on the bed,” Tara instructed.

Picking the semi-conscious girl up, Xander carried her over to her narrow, metal framed, bed hoping that Tara wouldn't notice his erection. Dumping Dawn on the bed, Xander stood to one side to let Tara examine the girl's injuries.

“I see, Willow had a snack,” Tara's fingers traced the bite marks on Dawn's left breast, “and Buffy obviously gave her a good whipping,” the witch turned Dawn onto her side to she how badly the girl had been beaten, “but everything looks as if its starting to heal, give it a day or two and you'd hardly know that she'd been hurt.”

While Tara was doing her examination, Xander stood at the head of the bed watching the girl's naked body as his girlfriend pushed and prodded her. His erection was getting painfully hard, if he didn't do something about it soon he might have a little accident.

“You want the first aid box, honey?” Xander asked.

“Please, and the bottle of a-anti-s-septic and a b-bowl of water please,” Tara let Dawn fall back onto her back. “You know this is too cruel, I wish Buffy wouldn't maltreat her like this.”

“Why?” Xander called as he filled a plastic bowl full of water from the tap over the was basin, “It's not as if she's real,” he turned off the tap before carrying the bowl over to Tara. “she's not Buffy's sister, she's not even human, you said so yourself.”

“I know,” agreed Tara as she accepted the bowl off Xander and put it on the floor by the bed as he went off to collect the other things she'd asked for, “but she thinks she is and I doubt she can really understand why her sister suddenly turned on her. She certainly doesn't understand why Buffy holds her responsible for Mrs Summers' death.”

“Whatever,” Xander put the first aid box and the bottle of antiseptic next to the bowl of water, “do you need anything else coz I wanna see if Willow's awake.”

“No,” Tara shook her head, “you go look in on Willow I can manage here.”

“Won't be long,” Xander called as he headed up the stairs.

0=0=0=0

Closing the door to the basement behind him, Xander had no intention of going and waking Vamp-Willow, she'd probably rip his throat out just for waking her up. Although Buffy tried to control who Willow killed and fed on, when it came right down to it, Willow was a vamp and would simply kill him if she was feeling a little cranky. No he wasn't going to see Willow, but he was going to see if he could use this erection of his on Cordy. The sound of a vacuum cleaner drew him towards the family room. Standing on the threshold he saw Cordy bending over the cleaner as she tidied up the room. Her butt was pointing directly at him as he stepped through into the room the sound of the cleaner covering the sound of his foot steps. Moving swiftly across the floor, Xander came up behind Cordy and thrust his crotch against her butt while he wrapped his arms around her and grabbed hold of her breasts.

“AAAGH! BASTARD!” Cordelia cried as she let go of the vacuum cleaner and pushed backwards with her legs.

Unbalanced by Cordelia unexpectedly pushing against him, Xander stumbled and tripped to fall onto the floor with Cordy on top of him.

“OOOMPH!” Xander groaned as all the wind was knocked out of him.

Pulling herself free of Xander's embrace, Cordy pushed herself to her feet, turned and kicked Harris in the ribs...hard!

“Get offa me you sick freak!” Cordy screeched as she drew her foot back ready to kick again; Buffy had taught her a few tricks to deal with guys who thought 'no' actually meant, 'yes please'. “What the hell do you think you're doing? I mean if Tara found out what you've been playing at, what Buffy would do to you would be the least of your worries?”

“I take it,” Xander gasped as he got to his hands and knees, “that you don't want to revisit old times?” he looked up and saw the look of thunder on Cordelia's face; no, he told himself, she didn't, “My mistake.”

“Yeah,” Cordy replied menacingly, “it sure was.”

0=0=0=0

Down in the basement, Tara was unaware of what was going on only a few feet above her head. If she had know, well, as the old saying went; hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and if that woman happened to be a powerful witch, hell had better batten down the hatches. So, undisturbed by thoughts of her boyfriend's betrayal, Tara worked quickly and efficiently to clean and dress Dawn's injuries. As she'd noted earlier the whip marks were already beginning to heal, a consequence of Dawn being made out of Buffy. During her examination of Dawn's blood, Tara had also noticed that the elements that made her 'The Key' also helped to heal any injuries.

Although Tara had a lot to be grateful to Buffy for (Buffy had rescued her from her demonic family after all), Tara wasn't so sure about Buffy's plans for Dawn. It seemed to her that Buffy was simply waiting for Giles to give her the 'all clear' and then she'd march down into the basement and slit Dawn's throat. While Tara agreed that Dawn needed to 'not be there'; without Dawn, Glory couldn't open her portal, she wasn't so sure that death was the only way of getting Dawn out of the way.

Then there was the way Buffy treated Dawn, again, yes, she could understand why Buffy would feel anger and grief after her mother died to pay for Dawn's entry into this reality. But, Dawn wasn't exactly guilty of killing Buffy's mom. Dawn was like a force of nature, is the tornado guilty for blindly killing people? Was there any point in being angry at the wind because it blew a tree down onto a loved one and killed them? No, there was no point. Just then Dawn groaned and opened her eyes, she looked up at Tara her pretty blue eyes full of pleading.

“W-water?” Dawn begged softly.

“Of course,” Tara went to the basin and filled a plastic beaker with water before coming back and lifting the girl's head before placing the beaker against Dawn's lips.

Drinking greedily Dawn coughed and spluttered as some of the water went down the wrong way.

“Not so fast,” Tara admonished quietly as she moved the cup away from Dawn's lips.

“More,” Dawn gasped.

Letting the girl drink some more, Tara looked around to see Dawns clothes lying on the floor in a ripped, dirty bundle; she'd need to find something for the girl to wear. Only then did the memory strike her, Buffy had sent everything that Dawn possessed; all her clothes, her books and diaries even her old toys to the thrift shop. To Buffy, Dawn wasn't real so all her possessions were fake too and didn't belong to anyone. Besides, Buffy needed Dawn's old room for somewhere for Willow to sleep during the day. Whatever, Tara sighed as she went to refill Dawn's cup, next time she came over she'd bring some old t-shirts, at least then Dawn could cover herself up.

“Has anyone fed you recently?” Tara asked as she let Dawn take the cup and drink again.

“No,” Dawn croaked as she shook her head.

“I'll go get you something,”Tara replied, “but first I better chain you up.”

After fitting the metal collar around Dawn's neck, Tara got up and headed for the stairs. The chain on the collar was connected to a sturdy bolt set into the wall. The chain was just long enough for Dawn to reach the wash basin and toilet that Xander had fitted on Buffy's orders.

“I won't be long, Dawnie,” Tara called as she headed up the stairs.

0=0=0=0


	3. Chapter 3

3.

Curled up into a tight ball on her thin, stained mattress, Dawn wondered if the monks had made her wrong or if she was just some sort of slut-pervert. One of the things she hated most about being locked up down in the basement was the boredom. After long hours of nothing to do, she almost welcomed the fear and pain when Buffy came down into her little prison to beat her; or when Willow used her as her very own sex toy come snack bar; or even when Cordelia took her upstairs to do some menial chore like scrubbing the kitchen floor. Even that was more interesting than the hours of nothingness she spent chained to the wall in the basement.

What really frightened Dawn about herself was the way she _liked_ it when Xander came down and raped her. He'd forced her to have sex with him about a dozen times since Buffy had locked her up. As soon as he'd worked out that Buffy didn't care what anyone did to her, as long as no one killed her before Giles said it was okay, Xander had been paying regular visits to abuse her. Dawn wondered if Tara knew what Xander was doing, the witch was the only one of the Scoobies who treated her like she was more than something to be tormented and eventually killed. If Tara didn't know what her boyfriend was doing maybe, maybe she should tell her what was going on, her treatment might improve. Perhaps Tara would help her to get away and escape from this living hell, but...

But, somehow Dawn enjoyed it when Xander forced himself on her, maybe it was because she'd had a crush on him when she'd been twelve or thirteen. Perhaps it was just her body responding to the sexual stimulus. He'd raped her again that very afternoon, it was after Buffy had come home from work (Dawn could just about gauge what time it was by the shadows cast by the shafts of light coming through the holes in the shutters over basement windows). Whatever time it was, Dawn had been listening to the sounds coming from upstairs. Having heard Buffy come home she'd heard everyone sit down for their meal. Then the house had descended into silence; Buffy and Cordelia had probably gone upstairs to their bedroom. Willow, of course was still asleep, which left Tara and Xander somewhere upstairs.

Wondering if she'd be called upstairs to clean up after the meal (sometimes they let her eat the left over scraps from their meal) Dawn's heart had jumped into her throat when she'd heard the door to the basement open. The footsteps on the stairs were too heavy to be any of the women of the household so Dawn had already guessed it was Xander coming down to 'visit' her, she knew what he'd want to do to her.

First Xander had told her that, 'if she was a good girl' he'd give her the chicken leg he'd brought down with him. The prospect of being given an entire, untouched, chicken leg all for herself made Dawn's mouth start to water. Sitting up on the edge of her bed she waited for Xander to tell her what he wanted her to do. What he wanted her to do was quite simple, he wanted her to suck his cock. Standing in front of her he pulled his penis from his pants and presented it at her mouth. Not needing to be told what to do (after all she'd sucked him several times before) she took his rapidly swelling cock into her mouth.

Knowing what Xander liked, Dawn took as much of him into her mouth as she could, before slowly drawing back, she let his cock slide between her lips as she teased it with her tongue. Gasping with pleasure, Xander had put his hand on the back of Dawn's head so he could control how much of him she had in her mouth. After only a few more minutes, Xander told her to stop and lie back on her bed. Obeying she'd lain back and opened her legs, she knew it was pointless struggling, Xander was too strong for her to fight off. Plus if she struggled too hard he'd just pick up Buffy's whip and beat her until she either complied with his orders or he'd beaten her insensible so she couldn't fight back.

Kneeling between her legs, Xander undid his belt and pushed his pants down to his knees before lowering himself on top of her and sliding his penis into her. As always Dawn moaned with a mixture of desire and pain; Xander was big and he always stuck his cock into her hard and thrust into her roughly. As the thrusts of his penis got into a rhythm, Dawn felt her body start to betray her and respond to his hard, savage jabbing. Even as he squeezed her breasts painfully, making her squirm under him, exciting and encouraging him to stab her harder and faster with his cock, Dawn felt her own excitement grow and grow as her body started to reach for her own orgasm.

Even as he started to twist her nipples, Dawn couldn't help but respond; she wanted him to use her for his pleasure, she wanted him to hurt her and fuck her faster. As he put his hands around her throat and started to slowly strangle her, Dawn wrapped her legs around his hips in an effort to force even more of him inside her. When Xander shot his load into her willing body, Dawn cried out in pleasure as her own climax exploded in her head. Wave after wave of pleasure swept through her body as Xander finished with a couple of extra hard thrusts that made her arch her back and almost pass out.

Lying there, Dawn found she could breath freely again, Xander had removed his hands from her throat and was now lying slumped on top of her as he caught his breath. Eventually he climbed off her body and Dawn found she could breath properly again without his weight on top of her. Without saying a word he stood up and started to rearrange his clothes so Tara wouldn't suspect what he'd done. As he dressed himself, Dawn watched him and wondered what had happened to the nice, kind Xander who wouldn't even have imagined raping his best friend's teenage sister. Sighing, Dawn told herself that that Xander had left town the instant this Xander had discovered he could do whatever he wanted to The Key and no one would care or call him on it...except perhaps Tara.

“Hey!” Xander looked down at Dawn's naked body, “Best time so far, fuck-meat,” this was high praise and Dawn had to fight not to feel proud. Turning to head on upstairs, Xander paused and looked back at Dawn, “Y'know I wonder,” he sounded truly curious, “just how _real_ those asshole monks made you? I mean how long did they expect you to last...I ask because I'm wondering if you're pregnant yet?” He laughed, “Now that would be something.” 

With Xander's laughter still ringing in her ears, Dawn rolled off the bed and crawled over to where he'd left the drumstick. Picking up the chicken leg she bit into it and tasted the, to her, exotic flavours of the chicken explode on her tongue. Sighing with pleasure she crawled back to her bed. Once again sitting on her mattress, Dawn nibbled at the chicken not wasting a scrap. It wasn't that she was hungry. It was because she was always given oatmeal to eat and oatmeal was so boring. Finishing the last few morsels of chicken, Dawn realised she'd sell herself, body and soul for more. No pain or indignity would be too great if she could just have one more mouthful of that succulent meat.

Perhaps, the monks _had_ made her wrong, maybe she was simply a natural slut who'd do anything for what she could get. Perhaps she deserved to be kept chained up in the cellar where she could be used and abused. Tossing the chicken bones into the bin under the washbasin, Dawn licked her fingers clean before curling up on her bed and pulling one of her itchy old blankets over her. Having spent the previous night hanging from her wrists she was tired and the chances were that Willow would want a snack before she went out on the hunt tonight, so she might as well sleep while she could.

As she slept, Dawn dreamt of happier times; like the time her grade school soccer team had won a local tournament; she'd run over to her mom and big sister to show them the medal she'd won. They'd both clapped and smiled and told her how proud they were of her. After the match her mom had taken her girls for pizza and ice cream and Dawn had eaten too much and got sick. Remembering how her sister had rubbed her tummy as their mom had driven them home, Dawn wondered where that Buffy had gone...maybe she'd left town with 'kind Xander'?

0=0=0=0

Walking the dark, empty streets of Sunnydale, Willow was looking for something to eat. Before she'd gone out that night she'd gone down into the basement and sucked on Dawn's breast for a while. However, she could smell Harris all over 'The Key', he'd been using her for his own entertainment and it kinda put her off her food. Whenever Willow saw or even just smelt Xander she always had a feeling that she should have killed him just after she'd been vamped, just like she'd killed her useless parents. But when it had come to Buffy, Xander and Cordelia she just couldn't do it, of course in those days she'd included Dawn in that mix, even if she'd not actually been there.

Stopping in mid stride, Willow frowned, it was all very confusing; she knew Dawn wasn't real, that she'd only been 'alive' for maybe six months, put Willow felt as if she'd known the girl since Buffy and her Mom had moved to Sunnydale. As a result of this it felt odd when she fed from her, it also felt good like having good sex while you were having an excellent meal, shaking her head, Willow continued on down the street. Just as she was coming to the junction that would take her to the Bronze, she heard a footfall behind her. Turning, she got ready to confront whoever was stupid enough to follow her down this dark, deserted road.

“Well lookie here...” Willow instantly recognised the voice, head held at an angle she watched as Spike stepped out of the shadows, “...Slayer let you off your leash?” The male vampire asked as he searched in his pockets for his cigarettes.

“Look who's talking?” Willow sneered back, “Isn't there something about pots and kettles?”

“Hey!” Spike snapped back and Willow knew she'd touched a nerve, “Faith and I work together...sometimes, I don't live with her like someone I could mention.”

“Whatever,” Willow shrugged as she took a step towards Spike, “okay so I live in the slayer's house,” she was now within reach of Spike and she lifted her hand to stroke his cold, pale face; the touch of his skin under her fingers sent little shivers of lust through her body. “It's better than having to hide from her...say...” Willow was now in Spikes arms, she raised her face to his and licked his cheek as if tasting him, “...what say we kill someone then go back to your place and totally make out?”

Spike thought about this for a couple of seconds before smiling and saying, “Yeah, alright!”

0=0=0=0

It was nearly midnight when Spike got to Willey's Bar. He'd gone to the Bronze with Willow and they'd enticed a pretty teenage girl outside and fed on her. They'd not killed her; Buffy and Faith might be actively working against each other but they were still slayers. They'd both told their 'pet' vamps that they could feed but not kill unless it was someone they wanted dead. Both vampires knew when they were on to a good thing so they went along with the two slayer's orders...for now.

While Willow still felt the vestiges of her human friendship for Buffy and her extended family, Spike's relationship with Faith was more pragmatic. Spike liked the way things were in Sunnydale and the world in general. A Hellgod appearing on the scene was likely to upset the finely tuned balance that he'd worked to set up in the town. He'd helped to take down both Angel and the Mayor when they'd tried to upset the apple cart. Now he was working to stop Glory from totally buggering things up for him and everyone else. So, if Glory's defeat meant he'd work with the slayer so be it...there was also the 'hungry and horny' thing that was quite good fun.

Apart from their mutual wish to remove Glory from this moral coil, Spike and Faith had something else in common, they both wanted to see Buffy Summers dead. Spike wanted the blonde bitch taken down because she'd been a thorn in his side, the fly in his ointment since the very first day she'd come to Sunnydale. Faith wanted to see Buffy dead for much more personal reasons. When Faith had come to Sunnydale she'd been quite prepared to live with, even like the other slayer. After all two slayers working together was a hell of a lot safer than one working on her own; which meant longer lives for both of them. However, Buffy didn't seem to be able to open herself up to Faith's offered friendship, so, when Faith had accidentally killed the Deputy Mayor in a dark alley one night, Buffy had tried to turn Faith into the police. 

When Faith had seen the Swat teams moving in on her motel room, she'd headed on out the back window, knocked a few cops unconscious and had run as fast and as far as she could. After a week on the run, she'd turned herself into the Council team who'd been sent after her. After several days of interrogation she'd managed to convince the council representatives that the Deputy Mayor's death had been an accident. Her story was believed mainly because she'd not killed any of the cops who'd been sent after her and she'd turned herself in. Once the council had decided she was innocent of anything other than an unfortunate case of mistaking a human for a vampire, the watchers had swung into action and within days she wasn't wanted by the police anymore.

The Council in its wisdom had decided that having Buffy and Faith in the same town was a bad idea and had sent Faith to Cleveland (the one in Ohio) where there was another Hellmouth. However, when Glory had hove into view, the Council had panicked and sent her back to Sunnydale where the first thing to happen was that her new watcher had died in mysterious circumstances, Faith actually suspected Buffy or Giles of arranging to have her watcher killed. The council told her to work with Buffy and her watcher, an order that Faith had ignored and she had struck out on her own.

Standing in the doorway, Spike looked around the bar, there were perhaps half a dozen very nervous looking demons standing near the bar or sitting in one of the secluded alcoves. They all looked as if they wanted to make a mad dash for the door, a sure sign that Faith was somewhere nearby. Movement attracted his eye to one of the alcoves where Faith stood up and headed towards the lady's room. As soon as Faith had gone into the restroom the last few remaining demons made a bolt for the door and disappeared out into the night. Spike smiled to himself as he got out of their way, he was in no mood to be trampled under foot by panicking demons. Once the last demon had gone, Spike walked over to the bar and ordered a beer off an annoyed looking Willey. Beer bottle in hand he went and sat down at Faith's table.

“Never guess who I saw tonight?” Spike said as Faith came and sat back down at her table; Faith sniffed at Spike.

“Willow Rosenberg,” she replied before taking a sip from her own beer, “ya screwed her didn't you?”

“Yeah,” Spike smiled, Faith's sense of smell was almost as good as his own, “but only for what I could get outta her.”

“Wicked...” Faith hesitated trying to find the right word, “...conscientious of ya.”

“Thought you'd appreciate it,” Spike smiled back.

“So what did ya find out?” Faith wanted to know.

“Like us they've no idea where Glory's disappeared to,” Spike explained.

“And the girl?” Faith was of course referring to Dawn.

“They've still got her locked up in the cellar,” Spike told her.

“Fuck!” Faith exclaimed.

“And...” Spike had more to tell.

“Go on,” Faith almost groaned, she couldn't understand Buffy's treatment of the girl; hadn't she been supposed to think the girl was her sister?

“The abuse is getting worse,” Spike told Faith in a low whisper, “last night Buffy whipped her and today Harris raped her again,” Spike left out what Willow had done as a professional courtesy, “Willow seems to think that Buffy's just waiting for Giles to tell her its alright to kill the kid.”

Spike had liked Dawn, not enough to stop him killing her, but at least he'd sire her if he did; she looked like she might be fun to spend fifty or a hundred years with. Buffy on the other hand was just going to slit her throat and wash all that good blood down the drain, she wasn't even going to let Willow drain her just in case 'The Key's' blood stayed in Willow long enough for Glory to use her to open her portal.

“We've gotta get her outta there,” Faith stared at her beer bottle, when Spike didn't immediately come up with a plan she looked up at him sharply and demanded, “Well?”

“Well, what?” Spike shrugged, “I can't go in there, no invite, right?” Faith nodded her head, “And assuming you get the girl out, what are you going to do with her?”

“I don't know,” Faith admitted, “But it'd be something better than just killing her...hey!” Faith had thought of something, “What if we kidnap one of Summers' friends and get the bitch to trade?”

“Wouldn't work,” Spike shook his head, “we'd have to grab that Cordelia bird that Summers sleeps with, even then I wouldn't put it past the bitch just to slit the girl's throat anyway.”

“Yeah,” Faith agreed, “she's a stone, cold bitch man.”

“Come on Slayer,” Spike tried to jolly Faith out of her dark mood, “we'll think of something, in the mean time,” Spike smiled hopefully, “fancy a shag?”

0=0=0=0


	4. Chapter 4

4.

Sleeping late the next morning, Faith awoke to see beams of sunlight marching across the floor of her poky little motel room. Another sunny Californian day, she thought as she watched the light increase as it burnt its way through the threadbare curtains. Lying there she wondered if she should even bother getting up, turning as she rolled over her eyes came to rest on her clothes where she'd let them fall the night before.

What she'd done with Spike the previous night had little to do with love, it was just sex, not so pure and simple, animal passion, lust but not love. Rolling back the bed clothes, Faith swung her legs out of bed and sat up. Her full bladder was calling for attention and her stomach was reminding her that the last thing she'd put in it was a bottle of beer. Liquids by themselves were not a good diet for a growing slayer. Standing up she walked across the room to her little bathroom, sitting down on the toilet she sighed with relief as she started to pee. Once she'd finished she stood up again and walked the one and a half short steps to the wash basin. Leaning with her hands on the taps, Faith looked at herself in the mirror.

“God you're just so hot,” she told herself; even late nights followed by a couple of hours of rough sex with a vampire didn't detract from the 'hotness' that was Faith Lehane.

Stepping back from the basin she tried to check the rest of herself out in the mirror, she could only see down to about her hips. But, there were no bruises or scratches that she could detect; checking between her legs and her inner thighs Faith saw no sign of damage from the pretty violent and energetic sex of the previous night, she didn't even feel sore. Turning to the shower she switched on the water to let it get hot while she padded on bare feet out into her room again to find a couple of towels.

Stepping under the pleasantly hot water, Faith let it wash away the last vestiges of sleep and sex. Spike had left in the small hours of the morning having no wish to be trapped in the small motel room with a slayer all day. If Faith was honest with herself (which she tried to be) she didn't want Spike in her room any longer than she needed him to satisfy her carnal lusts. Running the soap over her body, Faith had to smile as she remembered Spike's hands as they roamed all over her; one of the good things about sex with vampires was that it took a lot to get them tired, and another good thing was they couldn't get you pregnant or give you STDs.

After washing the soap from her body, Faith stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself and another around her hair before walking back into the bedroom again. Sitting on the bed drying herself off, Faith wondered what her now dead watcher would have said about her using a vampire as a sex toy, something pithy no doubt. Smiling to herself Faith realised she only knew words like 'pithy' because she'd picked them up from her watcher.

Faith had loved her watcher, not in a jump into bed and rub their clits together way, no Faith had loved her because Gwen Poste had been like a really cool mom. Postie, as Gwen Poste had hated being called, was Faith's second watcher. They'd got on well together from almost the day they'd met, Gwen had disarmed a suspicious Faith with her winning smile and good humour. On the other hand Faith could never understand why Gwen had liked her, she had to admit that she'd not been very nice to her new watcher on first meeting her.

Her first watcher had been killed before Faith had arrived in Sunnydale, so she'd had to share Giles with Buffy. This Faith realised was probably why Buffy hadn't grown to like her. The younger slayer definitely had a strong father-daughter bond with her watcher and she no doubt felt that Faith was trying to horn in on that relationship; Faith hadn't but Buffy didn't see it that way.

After the mix-up with the Deputy Mayor, Faith had been sent to Cleveland where she met her new watcher. Gwen had been kind, understanding, funny and a good teacher. If Faith had a fault (and she knew deep down that she wasn't perfect) it was that she was too impetuous. Gwen had taught her to stop and think before rushing into situations that could get her killed. Her watcher had also taught her stuff that wasn't anything to do with slaying; like how to speak as if she wasn't a savage from the projects, how to eat in polite company (like using a knife and fork and not just her fingers) and a load of other stuff that Faith didn't even realise she was being taught. Gwen Poste had achieved all this by using humour and by not sounding like she was lecturing her charge.

Then, after nearly two years together, they'd come to Sunnydale and within a month Gwen was dead, killed by a vamp who'd somehow got into the house that Gwen had rented for them. From that moment on Faith had hated Sunnydale and she hated what it did to people. There was something about the hellmouth in Sunnydale that changed people, before she'd been killed Gwen had tried to explain some of it to her slayer.

Back in England, when Gwen was a young trainee watcher she'd met Rupert Giles, she'd even gone out with him a couple of times and gone to bed with him once. Gwen remembered Giles as a nice guy, a gentleman in every sense of the word. But when she'd met him in Sunnydale, he'd changed. He was cold to everyone except Buffy and her closest friends, he was calculating, in fact he was a complete bastard. On Faith's first meeting with Giles she'd just assumed that was what he was like, it was only when she'd seen the shocked look on her watcher's face that she realised something was seriously wrong.

Gwen had a theory that the Sunnydale hellmouth eroded people's souls or whatever it was that made them who they really were. This neatly explained why Giles acted like he did, it also explained why Buffy tolerated a vampire under her roof and treated her 'sister' like she was just a thing to be abused and eventually killed. The hellmouth had probably made Buffy and Giles have Gwen killed, of this Faith was fairly sure, she had no proof but it would have needed a human to get through Gwen's magical defences and let the vampire in to their house. One day Faith would find out the truth and she would take revenge on whoever had killed Gwen.

Dry again, Faith started to dress before she stood in front of her mirror and began to brush out her hair. Thoughts of revenge had brought Buffy Summers to the forefront of her mind. Somehow she had to get Buffy's sister out of that house and away from Sunnydale. Faith was no fool, she knew she was good but she also knew she wasn't as good as Buffy. Any slayer who'd survived (like Buffy had) for more than a year was exceptional, Faith had survived for just over three years, Buffy had survived for nearly five. There was no way Faith was going to take on Buffy and her friends in a direct fight; she'd lose and the kid would die. Standing in front of the mirror, Faith stopped brushing her hair and looked at her reflection.

“Crap, man,” Faith gasped, “are ya stupid or somethin'?” The idea had simply popped into her mind, it was so simple she wondered why she'd not thought of it before, “It's simple, dummy, grab the girl when Buffy the Bitch isn't there!”

The plan unfolded in her mind as she finished getting dressed. All she had to do was wait until day light when Buffy had gone out to work. That would leave Cordelia Chase and the sleeping vamp in the house. Then she need only walk up to the front door, take out Chase, not kill her, she was more or less an innocent in all this. Grab the girl from the cellar, maybe take a minute to dust the vamp and then get out of Dodge fast. Okay she'd probably end the day with an angry Buffy Summers on her tail, but the slayer could be dealt with, all Faith had to do was tilt the probabilities in her favour and she'd already thought how to do that. Now all she needed was a fast car and a gun; bullets killed slayers just like they were normal people. Buffy couldn't come after her if she had a forty-five calibre hole in her head.

0=0=0=0

Alone in the apartment she shared with Xander, Tara started to push the furniture against the walls in the main room so she could draw her mystical symbols on the floor. Having been experimenting with Dawn's blood for sometime, Tara thought she was on the point of a breakthrough. If this spell worked she'd be able to send Dawn somewhere where Glory would never find her and Buffy wouldn't have to kill the girl. It would also mean that Dawn wouldn't have to suffer anymore abuse from either Buffy or Willow and, she suspected, Xander.

Knowing or at least suspecting the effects that the hellmouth had on people, Tara had cast protective spells over herself in an attempt to stop or at least lessen the corrosive effects of the hellmouth. Unfortunately Buffy and Xander had lived on the hellmouth far too long for any of her spells to be effective, the only way she could help them was by getting them away from Sunnydale. Unfortunately that wasn't going to happen until the hellmouth closed for good and that was as likely to happen as hell freezing over.

Even with her protective spells, Tara could feel her soul turning a little darker each day. The thing about Dawn was a case in point. Although Tara knew that what Buffy and the others were doing to the girl, she couldn't find it in herself to worry about it. Yes, she didn't want the girl killed if there was another way to prevent Glory getting her hands on her, but, if a way couldn't be found, she'd slit the girl's throat herself. Tara knew that would be bad, but she'd found she just didn't care that much. However, if this spell worked there would be no need to cut the throat of what appeared to be an innocent fourteen year old girl.

Having got the furniture out of the way, Tara set about drawing the protective symbols onto the wooden floor, she drew them in chalk so she'd be able to wash them off later. Xander didn't like to come home to magic symbols on the floor, in fact he wasn't too enthusiastic about the entire business of sending Dawn somewhere else, his vote was definitely for the 'Kill Dawn Party'.

Working on her hands and knees Tara carefully drew out the pentagram and all the additional symbols needed to complete the spell. The pentagram would prevent anything getting out of the portal she was hoping to open and escaping into her world. The other symbols were needed to complete the spell and open the gateway into what she hoped was an alternate reality. Completing the final symbol, Tara got to her feet and dusted off her knees. Standing back she checked that she hadn't smudged anything or broken the circle that surrounded the pentagram. Satisfied that everything was in order she went about collecting the other ingredients for her spell.

It took her almost half-an-hour to set out the little bowls of herbs and minerals around the pentagram. Each bowl needed to have a spell said over it to ensure that the main spell would work properly, lastly she needed to cleanse herself both physically and spiritually which took another half hour or so. By the time she'd finished the preparations it was nearly half-past-ten in the morning. However, if the spell worked like it was supposed to she wouldn't have to go through with the full ceremony to open a portal again. All she'd need would be herbs, minerals and a simple pentagram; as long as she remembered the words of the main spell she could open a portal anywhere.

Taking the test tube of Dawn's blood from the fridge, Tara went to stand at the north point of the pentagram. Resting her magic book on a music stand, she'd need both hands free for this spell, she started to recite the spell. As she said the words she moved to ignite the minerals and herbs in their set order. The minerals flashed into fire and caused clouds of coloured smoke to billow into the air. The herbs just smouldered their odour helping to cover the smell of the burning minerals. After almost ten minutes Tara got to the point where she needed to drop Dawn's blood into the smoking bowl of minerals that she'd placed at the north point.

Taking the stopper from the test tube, Tara invoked the Goddess as she slowly dripped the blood into the bowl. The blood hissed and the flame guttered as the blood dripped into the bowl; very soon the blood was gone and Tara waited for something to happen. Long seconds dragged by and turned into minutes. Nothing appeared to be happening and Tara was just starting to think that she'd waisted more blood, herbs and minerals on a spell that wouldn't work, all this work for nothing. Just as she was about to turn away to get a brush to start cleaning up, a large blue glowing column of light appeared in the centre of the pentagram. The column shimmered and glowed as it stood there looking both solid and ephemeral at the same time. Blinking her eyes Tara peered at the blue shimmering thing in something close to wonder tempered with a little disbelief.

“W-wow,” Tara stammered as she reached out to touch the blue light.

Her hand trembling slightly, Tara stretched out her arm until her fingers were almost touching the great shining blue-ness. As she wondered about the wisdom of actually touching the thing, Tara had the decision taken away from her. Without warning the blue column grew to engulf her hand, with a cry of fear and shock, Tara found herself sucked into the portal as both she and it vanished.

0=0=0=0

“Time to earn your keep,” Cordelia called as she walked down the steps into Dawn's basement.

Climbing off her bed, Dawn let the blanket she'd been lying under fall from her body, she was still naked after Buffy had ripped her clothes off her the previous night and Tara hadn't made good on her promise on finding her some old clothes to wear. Dawn stood with her head bowed and her hands crossed in front of her as Cordelia unlocked the metal collar from around her neck.

“Here,” Cordelia produced a leather collar, a little like a dog collar with a long length of light chain, like a lead, connected to it; she started to fix it around Dawn's neck, “Buffy doesn't want you trying to run off again while you're working.”

Once the collar was secure, Cordelia led Dawn upstairs where she padlocked the end of Dawn's chain to another longer length of chain which had been connected firmly to a metal eye in the ceiling of the kitchen. The chain allowed Dawn to move freely around the kitchen but not leave the room without Cordelia unchaining her. Giving Dawn her bucket of cleaning materials, Cordelia left her to start cleaning up the kitchen while she got on with her other household chores.

Going over to the oven, Dawn started to clean the hob. Once she was sure that Cordelia was out of ear shot, she gave the chain an experimental tug. If she could get away someone, even in Sunnydale, would notice a naked girl running down the street and take her away from her sister. The chain held solidly, there'd be no escape attempt today. Dawn didn't even try to open any of the drawers or cupboards, they were all securely locked. Sighing her resignation, she got on with her cleaning.

At least Cordelia wasn't cruel, she only beat Dawn if she didn't do her work properly and Dawn had long ago learnt to scrub things until the shone. Neither did Cordelia use Dawn for sex; Dawn actually got the feeling that Cordelia didn't approve of what Willow and Xander did to her. Dawn also wondered why Cordelia didn't tell Tara about how Xander came down into the cellar and raped her, no doubt Cordelia had her reasons but that didn't help Dawn.

Lastly, Cordelia always made sure that Dawn was fed at least once a day. Normally Cordelia saw to it that Dawn got her three bowls of oatmeal a day and was given vitamins so she wouldn't get ill. It was only when Buffy was in one of her 'hurting moods' that Cordelia didn't feed Dawn. Perhaps she didn't want to annoy Buffy, maybe Cordelia was frightened of what Buffy might do if she appeared to be caring too much about what happened to Dawn. Knowing that her sister was only waiting for Giles to give her the go ahead to kill her, Dawn supposed that Cordelia didn't think it was worthwhile antagonising her lover to be seen to 'care' about Dawn too much.

As she scrubbed the tears started to fill Dawn's eyes, it wasn't her fault that the monks had made her and her mom had died. It wasn't her fault that Glory needed her to open the portal to her own world which would let all manner of horrors into this one. Dawn had loved her sister and she'd always thought that Buffy had loved her. Okay so all her memories were fake, but that didn't make them feel any less real. Dawn could remember playing with her sister, sharing their toys in the back yard. Even when Buffy had started to go to Junior High they'd still been close, they were the sort of sisters who'd have shared everything together and now...

Great sobs racked Dawn's body as she let go of her scrubbing brush and slowly fell to the floor. Sitting naked on the cold floor with her face buried in her hands, Dawn wanted to die, she wanted it to all be over. Anything was better than her life even death.

0=0=0=0


	5. Chapter 5

5.

Stepping out of the shadows, Faith rammed her stake into the back of the first vampire neatly bisecting his heart. With hardly time for a dusty, 'Oh fuck' the vampire disintegrated and quickly dispersed on the breeze blowing in off the sea. The two remaining vampires turned to face the slayer only for one of them to get stabbed and dusted before he really knew what had hit him. The third and final vampire realising that his nights of blood driven excess could well be at an end turned and started to run.

“Don't make me come after ya!” Faith called as she sprinted after the fleeing blood sucker.

The vampire hadn't gone more than fifty yards before Faith caught up with him; she grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and threw him against the wall.

“Damn!” Faith said into the vamp's face, “When will you vamps learn?” she sighed heavily making her cleavage rise and fall in front of the vamp's stunned eyes, “All that runnin's got me all hot an' horny.”

“It has?” replied the vampire hopefully, perhaps this could all turn out better than he'd thought it would, it was then a thought struck him, “Hey!” he frowned, “I only ran for about fifty yards...”

“What can I say,” Faith gasped as she rubbed herself against the vamp's body, “it doesn't take much...I'm easily excited.”

“Okay that's coo...!” the vampire never got to the end of his sentence as Faith had plunged her stake into the bloodsucker's unbeating heart.

“Damn-it,” Faith stepped back as she spat vamp dust from her mouth, “I hate this freakin' town!”

The truth was that she did feel 'hot and horny', had she not kept tight control on he desires she'd have screwed the blood sucking fiend right there in the ally just like if she was some sort of vamp-whore. Disgusted at herself, Faith turned away and started to walk quickly towards the centre of town. What upset her the most was thinking about what her mother would have said if she knew what had been going through her mind a few minutes ago. Her mother had done her best to give Faith a good up bringing, she might have been poor but Faith's mother had done her best for her daughter. She'd been the kindest, sweetest mom and Faith'd been devastated when she'd died in a vamp attack.

Walking swiftly between the warehouses of the dock area, Faith came to the perimeter fence and jumped over it without even breaking her stride. She wanted out of the hell hole that was Sunnydale; she could almost feel the corrosive effects of the Hellmouth dissolving her soul. If she stayed in town much longer she'd end up as bad as Buffy and she didn't want that to happen. The realisation that she had almost screwed the vamp had made her even more determined to clean house and then 'get the hell outta Dodge'. Heading towards Willey's Bar, Faith made up her mind. It was Monday today, assuming that Spike could get her a gun and a car before the weekend at the latest, she'd grab the kid, deal with one or two other little chores and then get out of town.

The fact that Faith didn't know where she should go didn't bother her just at the moment, she just knew that she had to go. Perhaps, she paused in her journey towards Willey's place, maybe she should phone the Council in London and tell them what she intended to do. The Council were generally assholes and could do with living in the real world for a while, but... They'd got the cops off her back after she'd killed Finch, they'd not tried to kill her, they'd given her time to put her side of the story; she also suspected they knew more about what was going on in Sunnydale than they let on. Maybe they'd be cool with what she was planning to do? Whatever, she'd need to tell them about her plan to get Dawn as far away from Glory as she could, they might even help her. Restarting her walk towards Willey's, Faith made up her mind; once Spike had got her what she needed she'd phone the Council and tell them what she was going to do just before she did it, that way they'd have no time to try and stop her.

0=0=0=0

Stumbling out of the portal, Tara stopped and looked around before sighing in disappointment. Her elation at finally getting somewhere in her attempts to find an alternate reality to send Dawn to had been cruelly crushed. She now realised that all she had done was put on a spectacular light show and moved herself a couple of feet across her living room floor. Her shoulders drooping in disappointment, Tara turned to start clearing up the remains of her spell. As she turned and looked down she froze in shock at the sight that greeted her eyes.

“Oh my goddess,” Tara gasped as her hands flew to her mouth as if she was trying to keep the words inside her, “it m-must have w-worked!”

On the floor were she'd laid out her ingredients and drawn her pentagram she now saw no sign of her magical paraphernalia. What she did see was a brightly patterned rug that she'd never seen before. Looking up and around her she saw some things she recognised, like Xander's piece of 'tool' art hanging on the wall next to the kitchen nook. Some of the framed posters on the wall she recognised but others she didn't. Finding herself rooted to the spot, Tara forced her legs to move. Walking around the room she saw things that she definitely recognised as Xander's, a lot of the other stuff; like the swords and axes hanging on the walls like decorations, she didn't.

Stepping over to look at a sword, Tara saw that this wasn't a display piece bought from some comic book shop. This was a real sword, the blade was sharp and well oiled, it also showed evidence of hard use, whoever owned that sword used it for what it had been made to do, the same appeared true of the other weapons she found. Okay, she told herself, finding weapons in an apartment so obviously inhabited by Xander wasn't really that unusual when you knew what Sunnydale was really like. The only reason Xander didn't keep any weapons at home was that he lived with her, Tara the Mega Witch. No demon or Vamp in their right mind would attack them at home, they'd soon find themselves transported to a world inhabited by giant scorpions if they did!

Continuing her search, Tara found a laundry basket full of dirty clothes waiting next to the washing machine for someone to wash them. Searching through the basket Tara found some female clothing, picking out a bra she held it up in front of herself. This bra was definitely not hers, it was for someone significantly smaller than herself. Tara accepted that while she wasn't all fat and gross, she certainly wasn't slim like Willow or curvy in the same way that Cordy was; no, she was 'womanly' and if the world couldn't handle that then the world needed to open its eyes a little. Dropping the bra back into the basket, Tara picked out one or two other items. Whoever Xander was living with it wasn't this reality's version of herself. Not knowing how she really felt about that, Tara continued with her search.

Finding a couple of framed photographs, Tara picked them up to study them; one she'd seen before at Buffy's house. It was the one that showed Buffy, Willow and Xander sitting on the grass somewhere, they were all laughing and looked several years younger than they were now. Also judging by the amount of sunlight, Willow wasn't a vampire. The other photo was of Xander and Buffy, they were smiling and gazing into each others eyes in the same way as couples who _really_ loved each other did...

“Oh goddess!” Tara gasped nearly dropping the photo on the floor, “Xander lives with Buffy!?”

Placing the photo back in its rightful place with a shaking hand, Tara backed away from the shelf and its damning photos. Only when she'd retreated from the truth that the Xander in this reality didn't love her did she suddenly realise that although she was shocked by being confronted by the truth, she wasn't that surprised. It'd been dawning on her that Xander wasn't as deeply committed to their relationship as she was. There was also the nagging suspicion that Xander wasn't being one-hundred percent faithful to her.

“Whatever,” Tara sighed as she realised she was nowhere near as upset as she thought she would be, “I'll deal with this when I get home...” she turned and looked around; there was a complete lack of magical stuff in the apartment, “...if I get home.”

Shrugging resignedly, she'd work something out, she headed over to the door to her and Xander's bedroom and opened it. It only took her a moment or two to realise this was Buffy and Xander's bedroom. The sexy red sleeping set lying on the bed sort of confirmed it, Tara freely admitted that she'd never fit into it and even if she did she'd look ridiculous. But those were Xander's PJs lying on the pillow, his work clothes folded up on a chair and she recognised a couple of tops Buffy liked to wear when she was on patrol.

Deciding she'd seen enough to convince herself that the spell had worked and she was in fact in a completely different reality, Tara stepped back into the living room and closed the bedroom door behind her. So, what should she do now? Having found an alternate reality she needed to know whether it was a safe place to send Dawn. It would be worse than irresponsible for her to take Dawn and send her somewhere that was as bad or worse than the place she was in know. What if there was a Dawn already here? What if the Dawn that belonged to this reality was The Key too. Could they co-exist? Was Buffy a kind person or, and it needed to be said, an evil bitch?

Coming to a sudden halt in her mental babble, Tara thought about what she'd just thought. “Buffy is an evil bitch...” there she'd said it out loud; the funny thing was she was almost sure she'd have never said it in her home reality. “Buffy is an evil bitch!” Tara found herself giggling slightly hysterically, perhaps the effects of the Sunnydale Hellmouth was wearing off, “BUFFY IS AN EVIL BITCH!!!”

“No I'm not!” a short and mightily pissed-off looking Buffy Summers stood in the doorway glaring at Tara.

“OH!” Tara cried in surprise.

“Okay lady!” Buffy said menacingly as she stepped into the room with Xander close behind her, “Who the feck are you and what the feck are you doing in my living room?”

0=0=0=0

**Sunnydale 'A'.**

Sitting in her favourite alcove at Willey's Bar, Faith smiled to herself; she didn't really like the joint but she knew that her presence annoyed Willey and that was always fun. Also Willey stocked some good imported beer that you just couldn't get anywhere else in town so the place wasn't too bad. It was also the best place to beat information out of demons, but not on nights like tonight. Almost as soon as a demon came in through the door it'd sense Faith and would turn around and walk out again. If she was after information she'd have waited until later in the evening and then just burst in like a hot, vengeful goddess and start beating on demons until someone told her what she wanted to know. Tonight, however, she was just waiting for Spike to put in an appearance; she needed to see him and not just for the stuff she wanted him to get her. It was after her second bottle of beer as she started on her third that Spike eventually turned up. Sensing the slayer he turned around from the bar after getting his own drink to see Faith sitting in her favourite spot.

“Okay Slayer,” Spike called as he sauntered over to join her, “to what do I own the dubious pleasure of your company?”

“Dubious?” Faith smirked, “That's not what you said last night when you were screwing my ass to the wall.”

“Yeah, well that was different,” Spike shrugged before pouring himself a stiff drink from the bottle of cheep whisky he'd bought, “So, what d'ya want? I'm a busy guy, places to be, things to kill, okay?”

“I'll tell you what I want...” Faith whispered urgently.

“I wish you would,” Spike tossed off a grass of his cheep booze and poured himself another.

“I want otter this stinking ville...”

“You want a vile, smelly otter?” Spike frowned, his glass held half way to his mouth.

“I meant 'outta',” Faith snapped back, “see, this shithole town is making me screw up even when I'm just talking.”

“Okay,” Spike smiled, “what can I do for you to get you 'otter' town? Coz y'know the old place just hasn't been the same with two slayers spoiling it for everyone.”

“I need a pistol, something big, something that'll take down a slayer with one shot,” Faith explained quietly, it wouldn't be wise to let Willey overhear what she was planning.

“Going after Buffy eh?” Spike smiled evilly.

“I ain't gonna to deny it,” Faith shrugged before taking a swig of beer, “can ya get me what I want?”

“Colt automatic should do the trick,” Spike mused, “but it'll have to be something illegal. Stupid gun laws don't allow for pistols any bigger than point-two-two. You might do better with a twelve gauge pump...they're completely legal even in California.”

“Yeah get me one of those too,” Faith told him eagerly, “I'll want spare clips...”

“Magazines...” Spike interrupted.

“Whatever...” Faith shrugged, “...spare magazines for the pistol and plenty of ammo for both weapons. I want some wheels too...”

“A Rolls perhaps?” Spike sniggered.

“No just something roomy with plenty of poke,” Faith explained.

“SUV?”

“Something like that,” Faith agreed, “just so long as it can move an' go anywhere.”

“Okay,” Spike admitted, “I know a couple of guys who can help us out, but it'll cost...”

“No problemo,” Faith smiled as she stood up.

Turning she walked over to the bar and much to everyone's surprise jumped over it. Everyone was even more surprised when she punched Willey in the face and broke his jaw. Stepping over the groaning Willey, Faith ripped open the cash till and scooped out all the bills. Even for a quiet night there was at least a thousand dollars lying in the draw. Money in hand Faith made her way back to her table and threw the cash in front of Spike.

“That enough?” Faith wanted to know as Spike picked through the crumpled dollar bills.

“For now,” spike nodded as he pocketed the cash, “I'll need more...”

“How much?”

“About twice this, maybe more.”

“I'll get it,” Faith nodded, “you get the rest on delivery and when I'm happy, not before, okay?”

“Hey the people I know don't work on credit,” Spike complained, “I'll need more dosh than this if...”

“Tough!” Faith spat the word into the vamps face, “If ya can't get what I want I'll take my money and go elsewhere.”

“Your money?” Spike glanced over to where Willey was trying to call the paramedics while holding onto his broken jaw.

“Whatever,” Faith shrugged as she followed Spike's eyes over to where Willey mumbled into the phone, “when can you get the stuff for me?”

“Weekend...” Spike began but was interrupted by Faith.

“Thursday night,” Faith snapped, “No later, I wanna be outta here by the weekend.”

“It'll cost more,” Spike saw his chance to make a fat profit on this deal.

“Don't sweat it man,” Faith laughed, “I'm good for it! You bring the stuff to my place after midnight on Thursday, you get ya money then I'm gone and there'll be no more slayers to spoil ya fun!”

0=0=0=0

**Sunnydale 'B'.**

“So let me get this straight,” Buffy asked as she sat on the sofa facing Tara, “you're a witch...”

“A g-good witch,” Tara pointed out.

“Okay, a good witch, from another reality where evil versions of ourselves are holding my little sister prisoner in the cellar of my mom's house before they kill her to stop this Glorificus chick using her as a key?”

“Uh-huh,” Tara nodded; this Buffy and Xander had taken her story quite well and didn't seem in the least bit evil.

“Gotta say Buff,” Xander called from over in the kitchen where he was making coffee and snacks; just for a moment Tara wondered why 'her' Xander never made coffee and snacks when visitors called. “Her story has the benefit of being so unbelievable it must be true.”

“Yeah,” Buffy nodded as she looked at Tara, it was almost as if she was trying to look into Tara's very soul, “but I'm getting some evil vibe off her, not a lot but some. I don't know whether we can believe or trust her.

“Oh!” Tara cried, “T-that'll b-be the effects of the H-hellmouth where I come from...”

“Huh?” Buffy's face screwed up into a major frown.

“Y-you s-see the hellmouth in my S-sunnydale s-screws up your soul until you end up almost as evil as the really evil things.”

“You don't seem that evil,” Xander said as he placed the coffee and snacks on the table between the sofa and chairs where he and Buffy sat, “In fact you don't seem evil at all and we should know, right Buff?”

“Hmm, right,” Buffy still didn't sound too convinced.

“I-I use a lot of protection s-spells,” Tara admitted; she was getting desperate, this Buffy and Xander seemed nice and from what she could work out, Mrs Summers was still alive and living at Revelo Drive with this reality's Dawn. There didn't appear to be a Glory and Dawn appeared to be real and not a Key.

“L-look,” Tara took a deep breath, “while we're s-sitting here's a girl who looks a lot like your Dawn being beaten and abused in terrible ways. I can't sit by any longer and let this happen. I've got to get her out of her living hell to s-somewhere s-safe and this looks like as good a p-place as any...will you help me?”

0=0=0=0


	6. Chapter 6

6.

**Sunnydale 'B'.**

“Giles!” Buffy called as she burst into Giles' apartment via the front door; she'd only taken a couple of steps when she was brought up short, “Oh!” she said in surprise at the sight that greeted her eyes.

Standing in the doorway of Giles' ridiculously small kitchen stood a tall, dark haired and very attractive young woman in her late twenties or early thirties. The young woman stared in surprise at Buffy, a tray carrying two cups, a milk jug, sugar bowl and teapot held tightly in her hands, next she gasped as Tara and Xander made their entrance into the apartment.

“Rupert!” she called, Buffy recognised an Irish accent, “Looks like you've got company...”

“Company?” Giles' voice came from the bedroom upstairs.

“Erm...” Buffy didn't know what to say, mainly because her mind was still struggling with the idea that Giles had a 'girlfriend'.

“Holy moly!” Xander gasped as he caught sight of the young woman for the first time.

“Hi...” Tara said quietly, she seemed to be the only one that didn't seem to find the idea of Giles having a young, attractive woman in his apartment in anyway strange; particularly young attractive women wearing one of Giles' shirts and clutching a tea tray.

“What the...” Giles came down from upstairs dressed in a dressing gown, which he was still doing up, “...now I'm _sure_ that I locked and bolted that door before...”

“I think I'll just slip into something less comfortable.” so saying the young woman put down the tea tray and headed rapidly upstairs towards Giles' bedroom.

“Wow!” Xander sighed in appreciation as he watched the young woman's long, smooth legs disappear up the stairs.

“Stop drooling,” Buffy warned as she glanced over her shoulder at Xander.

“I...wer nert dluur...” Xander replied in fluent gibberish.

“Who's...?” Buffy pointed towards the stairs.

“She's a friend...” Giles replied.

“I should hope so,” Buffy found herself sounding a lot like her mother.

“Her name's Tina O'Mahony,” Giles replied, “she's from Dublin originally, but she works at the British Museum now...we met the last time I was in London.”

“You old dog!” Xander smirked with an appreciative laugh.

“And that'll be enough from you Xander Harris,” Giles snapped sounding slightly annoyed, “now what are you all doing here so early and...” Giles seemed to notice Tara for the first time, “...who's this? I must say that while I'm used to you just bursting in whenever you feel like it I'd appreciate it if you didn't bring _all_ your friends along.”

“Early?” Buffy looked pointedly at the clock over Giles' fireplace, “It's nearly two in the afternoon.”

“It is!?” Giles turned and glanced at the clock, “Oh, so it is,” Giles reached up to take off his glasses but then remembered that they were still upstairs, “I must have lost track of time.”

“I bet you did,” Xander muttered in a low voice causing both Buffy and Tara to have a fit of the giggles.

“So,” Giles drew his tattered dignity around himself like a worn out cloak, “why are you here?”

“Can we talk?” Buffy pointed upstairs.

“In front of Tina?” Giles replied; Buffy nodded, “Of course, Tina works in those parts of the British Museum that the general public aren't allowed, she's quite aware of the world of the odd and strange.”

Buffy opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again as she looked up at Giles.

“You're naked under that robe aren't you?” Buffy asked, Giles opened his mouth to speak but Buffy cut him of, “No! Don't tell me I don't really want to know, what I'm imagining is bad enough...this would be so much better if you were fully clothed.”

“Oh!” Giles appeared to remember that he was standing in his living room with three twenty-somethings and that he was only wearing a dressing gown, “Yes you're quite right...if you'll excuse me?”

Giles headed for the stairs just as Tina was heading back down. While she'd been upstairs she'd dressed herself in a pair of stylish designer jeans and a white silk blouse. Buffy could tell Tina hadn't put on a bra by the way her breasts bounced provocatively as she moved and how her nipples stuck out like two hard nubs as they rubbed against the material of her blouse. Buffy decided she was going to hate this woman with a-vengeance because she made her fell short and inadequate, also Xander was drooling again.

“Sit down, why don't you?” Tina broke the silence and gestured to the chairs and sofa around the fireplace.

Silently Buffy, Tara and Xander sat down as Tina hovered near by, “Tea?” she asked.

“Please,” Tara replied quietly not knowing what exactly was going on here.

“I'll make some more then,” Tina smiled, before heading for the safety of the kitchen.

“So,” Xander tore his eyes from the spot that until a few seconds ago had held Tina and turned his attention back to Tara, “you didn't seem too surprised to find a woman in Giles' apartment. Does the Giles in your reality have a girlfriend?”

“No,” Tara shook her head, “b-but he often uses p-prostitutes...”

“Meep!” Meeped Buffy.

0=0=0=0

**Sunnydale 'A'.**

Gasping as she started to recover from her climax, Buffy rolled off Giles and lay on her back in amongst his tangled sheets.

“That hit the spot...” Buffy stretched like a cat that had not only got the cream but had also found the keys to the dairy.

“I'm glad to have been of service,” Giles replied as he lay next to Buffy and reached out in search of his glasses; Buffy and himself had started these occasional sex sessions about six months ago, so far Cordelia hadn't found out.

“I'll need a shower before I go,” Buffy said quietly, “I don't want Cordy to smell you on me.”

“No danger that she suspects?” Giles put on his glasses and looked at Buffy's naked body as she lay beside him.

“Not so far,” Buffy replied, “anyway, nice though the sex was, I really came here to ask you if I can kill the key yet?”

“Yes we did get distracted, didn't we?” Giles laughed as he reached over to run his hand across Buffy's belly until it was resting between her legs.

“Hey!” Buffy reluctantly pushed Giles' hand away, “Focus, the key remember?”

“Yes of course,” Giles sighed with disappointment, “the key, sent to Earth by those fuck-wit monks to ruin everyone's lives.”

“They did more than ruin some people's lives,” Buffy pointed out quietly.

“Of course,” Giles apologised, the loss of Buffy's mother had hit her hard.

“The Key? Glory?” Buffy prompted.

“I'd prefer it if you didn't kill Dawn until we've reacquired Glory,” Giles explained, “I'm not one-hundred-percent sure if killing The Key will have any effect on Glory and I'd like to have her under observation when you do slit The Key's throat, just in case.”

“Damn-it!” Buffy's hands itched to wring the life out of the monster that had killed her mother, “Where the hell has Glory gone?”

“Unknown,” Giles shrugged, “I have all my contacts out looking for her...”

“I'm sure you're doing your best, Giles, but...”

“If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well it were done quickly,” Giles quoted from 'The Scottish Play'.

“What?” Buffy pushed herself up on her elbow and looked at Giles.

“Nothing,” Giles sighed, “I'm just suggesting that it would be best that the Key was killed soon, but I don't want her dead until we know where Glory is.”

“Whatever,” Buffy flopped back down onto her pillows and giggled, “think you can manage a 'second coming'?”

“Oh,” Giles sighed, “I suspect I can.”

“Okay,” Buffy wriggled about getting herself comfortable, “you on top this time...”

0=0=0=0

**Sunnydale 'B'.**

“So you claim you're a witch?” Giles asked as he sipped his tea; Tina was sitting on the arm of Giles' chair.

“F-from another r-reality...” Tara clarified.

“Alternate realities I can live with,” Tina announced as she sat with her arm draped around Giles' shoulder, “but all this talk of witches is like something out of a fairy story.”

“Oh most certainly,” Giles agreed, with a laugh, “all this talk of magic and magical portals is just so much bunkum and balderdash.”

“W-well,” Tara was getting a little fed up with being doubted, she was a powerful witch and she deserved some respect, “how do you e-explain this?”

Making a gesture, Tara caused the tea tray to float in mid-air before everyone's eyes.

“Telekinesis,” Tina murmured unimpressed.

“Oh indeed, telekinesis,” Giles agreed with a firm nod.

“What they said,” Buffy agreed.

“Huh?” Xander added, he hadn't noticed the tray his eyes were still riveted to Tina and her silk blouse.

“Harris,” Buffy whispered, “if you want to find out all the _bad_ things that can happen when you live with a slayer...?”

“What?” Xander snapped out of his daydreams and back to the present, “Yes! Sure...I mean Willow can do that stuff like...y'know...'til the cows come home...right?”

“And they say I babble,” Buffy sighed.

“B-but...” Tara started to try and explain.

“Simple manipulation of mater by using the power of the mind,” Giles explained.

“Not magic,” Tina added, “although you can understand how it might be mistaken for magic in primitive cultures,” Tina tuned to look down at Giles, “Only the other week I read this really interesting paper on...”

“T-then how d-did I get here if I'm not a w-witch?” Tara demanded, “I-I cast a spell and opened an-an inter-dimensional portal and...”

“Interesting,” Giles shifted on his chair to get a better look at the young woman who claimed she was a witch, “you really believe you're a witch?”

“Of c-course I do...” Tara was close to tears now as her frustration mounted, “L-look,” Tara took a deep breath, she had to get these people to believe her, she had the strongest feeling that time was running out for Dawn and this reality looked like her only hope of safety, “Time is r-running out, back in my reality there's a fourteen year old girl locked in a cellar. She's being beaten, fed on by a v-vampire and probably raped by my boyfriend...if I don't do something soon, her sister,” Tara turned hard eyes on Buffy, “her sister is going to kill her...”

“She obviously believes this is true, Rupert,” Tina said into the silence that followed Tara's out burst.

“It is!” Tara wailed, “Please help me...”

“We will,” Giles said softly, “but first we must see if what you're saying _is_ true and isn't the symptom of some sort of psychotic break.”

“Willow!” Buffy cried out.

“Where?” Xander sat up and looked around.

“Probably snuggling with Cordy,” Buffy giggled but soon realised that giggling just now was inappropriate, “Whatever,” Buffy took a breath, “Willow's a Teep, she can scan Tara, see if she's telling the truth.”

“Would that be acceptable to you?” Giles asked as he watched Tara closely.

“Teep?” Tara frowned.

“A telepath,” Giles explained, “I doubt she'll need to do more than a surface scan...”

“S-so,” Tara looked from one face to another, “you're saying that if y-your W-Willow says I'm telling the truth, you'll help me?”

“Of course we will,” Buffy replied for everyone, “that's what we do and I think Dawnie would get a kick out of having another sister!”

0=0=0=0

**Sunnydale 'A'.**

Cordelia sniffed at Dawn, “You stink!”

“Sorry,” Dawn flinched away from Cordy's hand thinking she was going to be hit; instead Cordelia ran her fingers through Dawn's long, lank, hair.

“And your hair's disgusting.”

“Sorry, Miss Cordelia,” Dawn replied as she looked at the floor and half expected to be beaten again; it had been a hard morning, she'd spring cleaned Buffy and Cordy's bedroom.

“Here,” Cordelia turned, opened a closet and threw Dawn a big towel, “go take a shower for god's sake,” Cordy reached over to Dawn and removed her collar and leash, “but don't take all morning. When you've finished come down to the kitchen.”

“Yes Miss, thank-you Miss,” Dawn replied before hurrying into the bathroom just down the hall from Buffy and Cordy's room.

Once inside the bathroom, Dawn leaned against the door and slipped the bolt across. It wasn't much of a bolt but it would slow down anyone other than Buffy and prevent them from just walking in on her. Pushing herself away from the door, Dawn went over to the window and opened it. Looking out she saw that it was too high to jump and there wasn't anything to climb down on. Next, Dawn searched through the medicine cupboard above the sink. Neither Cordy or Buffy used razors to shave their legs so there were no razor blades to slash her wrists. Also as her sister and her girlfriend were both disgustingly healthy there were no pills to take so she could die from an overdose. Going back to the window Dawn considered jumping again. While it was too high to not guarantee injury, it was not high enough to guarantee death. Sadly, Dawn, denied of any sure way of stopping her torment, went over to the shower and switched on the water. As soon as it was hot enough she stepped under the water and started to soap herself down, her tears of frustration mixing with the steaming water.

0=0=0=0

Looking up, Cordy watched as Dawn walked slowly into the kitchen, she was naked apart from the collar and leash around her neck. Cordelia made no move to connect the end of the leash to the long chain that hung from the ceiling. Now the girl was clean, Cordy could clearly see the bruises on her breasts and between her legs.

“Here,” Cordy picked up one of her old summer dresses from where it lay on the breakfast bar and tossed it to Dawn, “put that on and sit down.”

Doing as she was told, Dawn slipped the dress over her head, it was far too big for her but it was better than nothing and anyway she wasn't going to appear in a fashion show. Sitting down on one of the high stools at the breakfast bar, Dawn wondered what was going on. Although Cordelia wasn't cruel to her she wasn't usually this nice either.

“Here,” Cordy took a plate of food and placed it in front of Dawn along with a knife and fork, “eat.”

Dawn starred down at the plate; there was cold meats, salad and even a buttered roll. What was going on, she asked herself as she hesitantly picked up the knife and fork. Was this some sort of cruel trick? Would Cordelia snatch the food away at the last minute or throw it on the floor and make her eat it off the tiles? Praying harder than she'd ever prayed before, Dawn stuck her fork into a piece of cold potato and... Nothing happened, Cordy didn't throw the food onto the floor or snatch it away or start to beat her, she just stood there watching her with her arms crossed over her chest.

“Xander rapes you doesn't he?” Cordelia asked.

Dawn froze, her mouth full of food as she looked fearfully up at Cordelia.

“Don't worry I won't beat you if you say 'yes',” Cordy told her, “but I will beat you if I think you're just telling me what you think I want to hear.” Cordy paused before asking her question again, “Xander rapes you, doesn't he?”

“Yes Miss Cordelia...” Dawn replied terrified of what was going to happen next.

“I guessed,” Cordy replied, “I just wanted to hear you say it...”

“He hits me too while he's doing it,” Dawn looked up as the tears trickled down her cheeks.

“I saw the bruises,” Cordelia replied coldly.

“If it wasn't for all the biting, its not so bad when Willow does it...” Dawn admitted.

Standing with her back to the window, Cordy couldn't take it anymore, she turned to look out into the yard and so Dawn wouldn't see her crying. Cordelia didn't understand what had happened to her over the last few years. Being honest with herself, Cordy knew she could be a bitch, but she'd never been a cold, heartless bitch who'd let a fourteen year old girl be beaten, raped and used as a vampire's snack bar. In some ways she could understand Buffy's feelings of anger and loss, but that didn't excuse how she treated this girl who thought Buffy was her sister and couldn't even now understand why her life had turned to so much crap.

“I'm going to tell Tara about what Xander does to you,” Cordy looked determinedly out of the window, “I think she's guessed, it'll be fun to see what she does to him...hell has no fury like a scorned witch.”

Dawn sat and said nothing, what was there to say? Instead of speaking she continued eating vacuuming up ever morsel of food from her plate.

“I'm also going to ask her to get you outta here,” Cordy turned to look down at Dawn, “this can't go on...”

0=0=0=0

**Sunnydale 'B'.**

Sitting on the couch in Giles' living room, Tara watched as Xander pulled something like a small two-way radio out of his pocket and used it to contact Willow, he saw her watching him and smiled.

“Don't you have Pocket Phones where you come from?” he asked after finishing his call.

“No,” Tara shook her head, “we only have normal phones, l-like that,” she pointed to a standard telephone sitting next to Giles' TV.

“So,” Xander came and sat down next to Tara; Buffy, Giles and Tina had disappeared into the kitchen and were having a quiet but intense discussion, “What's it like in your reality.”

“Like I s-say,” Tara began, “the hellmouth corrodes everyone's soul and makes them do bad things but they all think they're doing the right thing...”

“Yeah, I get that,” Xander nodded, “but what are people like...apart from all the evil stuff?”

“Giles and Buffy tried to have Faith framed for killing the Deputy Mayor...”

“Faith?”

“Another slayer,” Tara explained, “I'm almost sure they had Faith's Watcher murdered...”

“Giles!?” Xander looked towards the kitchen in disbelief.

“And of course there's all the whores,” Tara added, “Buffy's in a relationship with Cordelia...”

“HA!” Xander laughed.

“In my world your friend Willow is a vampire and...”

“Willow a vamp!? How did that...” Xander stopped himself from asking, “...no I don't think I wanna know.”

“And you're my boyfriend,” Tara finished.

“I never got together with Buffy?”

Tara shook her head.

“Hey,” Xander sighed, “that really puts the Alternate in Alternate Reality.”

0=0=0=0


	7. Chapter 7

7.

**Sunnydale 'B'.**

“Is she telling the truth?” Giles asked Willow; Giles, Buffy and Willow were standing in Giles' kitchen while out in the living room, Xander, Tina and Cordelia were keeping Tara 'entertained'.

“I've gotta say that she believes what she's told us,” Willow replied before asking, “have you got any aspirin? Scans still give me headaches...”

“Buffy,” Giles gestured to the cupboard behind her, “there's a bottle of aspirin get them down for Willow...”

“Thanks,” Willow said as she accepted the pills gratefully, put a couple in her mouth and swallowed them.

“So you're saying she believes what she says is the truth,” Giles continued, “does that mean there's some doubt in your mind?”

“There's always _some_ doubt Giles,” Willow gave Giles a half smile, “but if this is a delusion its a well crafted one full of the detail you don't normally see in the criminally insane...” Willow looked guiltily from Giles to Buffy and back again before adding hastily “...or so I'm told.”

“Will...” Buffy said half in concern and half in disappointment, “...I thought we agreed, no more peeking into the minds of loonies.”

“I'm sorry, Buffy,” Willow replied, “but its the only way I can learn.”

“As you would no doubt say...” Giles looked at Buffy, “...whatever,” he turned to look at Willow again, “now tell me what you found.”

“Okay,” Willow took a deep breath, “remember this was basically a surface scan...deep scans still give me a migraine...”

“Willow...” Giles prompted.

“Okay, I'm getting to the good bits,” Willow replied, “never heard of plot development, Giles? Sheesh!” Willow settled herself again before beginning to explain, “Right, the world Tara comes from is like our own but different...”

“Different?” Buffy asked.

“Like totally the same but, like all the relationships are screwed up,” Willow tried to explain.

“How so?” Buffy wanted to know.

“I hope this isn't going to turn out like one of those awful chat shows where everyone finds out they're related to each other,” Giles sighed.

“Hey! I learn something new about my watcher,” Buffy announced cheekily, “he watches daytime TV!”

“I do not and we're getting off subject,” Giles pointed out.

“Okay,” Willow began yet again, “like, Buffy's not with Xander she's with Cordy...”

“I'm a lesbian!?” Buffy cried in shock and disbelief.

“Hey, you're lucky,” Willow pointed out, “I'm a 'vamp'...”

“A what?” Giles and Buffy chorused.

“A vampire,” Willow shrugged, “its their version of a haemovore.”

“Oooh!” Giles and Buffy said as realisation dawned.

“Like in our reality being a haemovore means you've been infected by the haemovore virus,” Willow explained, “In Tara's world being a vampire means you've been killed and your body's been taken over by a demon...”

“A what?” Giles said yet again.

“A demon,” Willow shrugged, “its hard to explain but every thing we have to face has a mirror image in her world, its all really weird, like they call the Nexus, The Hellmouth.”

“What's a 'Hell' an' why's it got a mouth?” Buffy wanted to know.

“Darned if I know,” Willow shrugged at a loss as to how to explain all the information she'd got from Tara, “but one thing comes over very strongly, Dawn, or at least Tara's version of Dawn, is in great danger.”

“How so?” Giles asked.

“Right, there's this Hellgoddess...”

“Hellgoddess?” Giles interrupted.

“What's a 'goddess'?” Buffy frowned.

“Some sort of really _bad_ monster,” Willow explained, “So, where was I? Oh-yeah, right, look Tara's Dawnie is some kind of energy key, Tara calls it 'mystical' whatever that means,” she shrugged, “that this Glory chick needs to open up a portal to her own reality.”

“And this is bad because...?” Buffy was of the opinion that getting something bad to go back to its home reality was a 'good' thing.

“It's bad because, it means Dawn has to die as a sacrifice to get this mystical energy out of her,” Willow explained, “and opening their Nexus will let all kinds of aliens and monsters into their world.”

“Not good,” Buffy nodded; she couldn't even imagine someone wanting to kill her little sister, but there was no accounting for the things that came through the Nexus would do.

“If that's not bad enough,” Willow sighed sadly, “because this Hellmouth thing screws with your moral compass, other-Buffy has other-Dawn locked up in the cellar where she whips her and lets other-me feed on her and where other-Xander rapes her...at least Tara thinks Xander rapes poor little Dawnie...”

“Look,” Giles coughed to clear his throat, “we must remember that these other-people aren't us...”

“No,” Buffy shook her head firmly, “my Xander would die before he let something like that happen to Dawn,” Buffy turned her 'resolve glare' on Giles, “we've got to rescue this other-Dawn before other-me kills her or something.”

“Now wait a minute,” Giles held up his hands as if trying to fend Buffy off, “rescuing people is all very well, but is this, assuming its possible, anything to do with us? Is it our responsibility, will opening the Nexus in their reality have any effect on ours?”

“Probably not,” Willow said soberly, “but I think it's the right thing to do.”

“So do I,” Buffy agreed.

“As do I,” Giles smiled, “I just wanted to hear you say it...so, assuming we can and have saved this unfortunate girl, what do we do with her?”

“My mom will look after her,” Buffy announced promptly, “she always wanted more kids so she'll jump at the chance of another daughter without having to go through with all the icky pregnancy stuff and the really gross giving birth thing...” she turned back to Willow, “...this alternate Dawn, you say she's exactly like our Dawn?”

“Yeah,” Willow shrugged, “as near as I can see in Tara's mind.”

“Cool!” Buffy grinned, “Dawn is sooo going to like having a twin!”

“That's all well and good,” Giles prepared to throw a wet blanket over Buffy's plans, “how do we suddenly explain the appearance of Dawn's twin sister?”

“Oh, oh!” Willow bounced up and down holding her hand in the air like a five-year-old who wanted to be excused.

“What?” Giles laughed.

“Its simple,” Willow explained, “we tell everyone that Dawn's twin was kidnapped when she was a baby and the FDI have only just got her back...we can fill out the rest of the story later after I've hacked into the FDI's computers and changed their records...”

“Willow...” Giles and Buffy said warningly.

“Sorry...” Willow looked at her two friends innocently, “...did I say something about hacking? If I did I'm sure it was just a slip of the tongue...”

“No, I'm sure it'll be alright,” Giles said quietly, “but, be careful.”

“That goes double for me,” Buffy added, “because its me that'll have to deal with the 'vengeance of Queen 'C'' if the Feds drag you off to jail.”

“You know I wouldn't put you through that,” Willow rested a supportive hand on Buffy's shoulder, “I'll be very careful.”

“Well, assuming we can get this 'other-Dawn' into our reality,” Giles had decided it was time to bring everyone back down to Earth, “we better try and make sure that she can actually exist in this reality and,” Giles looked down at Buffy, “you better find out if your mother actually wants another daughter and if Dawn wants a twin.”

“On it,” Buffy nodded, “I'll deal with it tonight, but I'm sure mom will, plus once I've explained to Dawn how she can screw with people's minds if she has an identical twin, she'll jump at the chance.”

“What do we call her?” Giles asked.

“Who?” Buffy and Willow replied.

“This other Dawn girl,” Giles explained, “I mean we can't have _two_ Dawns...”

“I know!” Willow exclaimed, “We can call her 'Dusk'!”

“Dusk?” Giles and Buffy cried uncertainly.

0=0=0=0

“So, I'm not Willow's girlfriend?” Cordelia simply couldn't imagine not being with Willow; they'd been an 'item' ever since that night the haemovores broke into school and tried to kill everyone at the Parent Teacher meeting.

It had been so scary when they'd been trapped in that tiny janitor's closet that they'd sort of turned to each other for comfort. What had started out as a little mutual hugging had turned into a full blown romance within a few weeks and collimating with them going to the Senior Prom together.

“Willow's a v-vampire,” Tara reminded Cordy.

“Oh yeah you said,” Cordy nodded, she was still too distracted to come to grips with what other people 'other-lives' were like.

“And I'm not with Buffy,” Xander said sadly.

“At least you feature in this alternate reality,” Tina pointed out, “I don't.”

“Well to me honest,” Cordy pointed out, “until Willow and I came over we didn't know you even existed. This magic stuff you do,” Cordy continued, “its like telepathy, telekinesis and pyrokinesis right?”

“Sorta,” Tara agreed, “but its more than that.”

“It sounds like it lets Tara, and people like her,” Tina explained, “break the laws of physics,” she smiled at Tara, “If we have the time I'd like to talk to you some more about this 'magic' thing you practice.”

Tara was about to say that she'd love to explain magic if she had the time when Giles, Willow and Buffy walked back into the room.

“We've talked it over,” Buffy announced.

“And we've decided to try to rescue this Dawn girl and bring her into this reality,” Giles explained.

“It was unanimous,” Willow added as she went to sit next to Cordelia.

“Oh thank the g-goddess,” Tara sighed with relief.

“So what do you need to make this _spell_ thing of yours work?” Giles pulled up as spare chair and sat down as Buffy sat down in Xander's lap.

“I-I'll need ingredients,” Tara began only to be interrupted by Tina.

“Like?”

“S-some common herbs and minerals, some metal bowls to put them in a pestle and mortar,” Tara listed all the things she'd need as Giles wrote them down in a notebook. “you see I've d-done this spell before so all I need is a few packets of powder made from the herbs and minerals to repeat the spell...”

As she sat next to Willow, Cordelia couldn't believe they were having a discussion about spells and magic; magic was what stage magicians did. It was all slight of hand and misdirection, no one really believed that you could saw an 'attractive assistant' in two...well you could but there'd be a lot of screaming and blood. But this Tara girl, nice though she seemed, was talking about opening a portal to another reality without using all the electronic stuff that real scientists used...it was just too weird. Whatever, Cordy shrugged to herself, if Willow was happy to try it to rescue this girl, she'd be a good girlfriend and support her...but it was still weird.

“...f-from w-what I remember,” Tara was coming to the end of her little lecture on 'Practical Magic 101', “although the spell moves you from reality to reality, i-it doesn't move you much in space.”

“Space?” Xander asked as he fought off the wandering hands of a bored Buffy, “We're going into space?”

“N-no,” Tara shook her head, “its like if I did the spell here,” she gestured to Giles' apartment, “I'd arrive in my home reality in my Giles' apartment.”

“COOL!” Buffy stopped trying to molest Xander and sat up and took notice, “that makes things tactically easier!”

“Since when do you use words like 'tactically'?” Giles wanted to know.

“Ever since I started to read Xander's old GI Joe comics,” Buffy replied guiltily.

“So it was you!” Xander gasped, “next time could you put them back in order?”

“Sorry,” Buffy kissed Xander on the cheek, “I'll make it up to you when we get home...”

“Can we get on, please,” Giles sighed heavily before turning to Tara, “As I understand it, if this other-Dawn...”

“Dusk,” Willow interrupted.

“Huh?” Xander said on behalf of himself, Tina and Cordy.

“We decided to call other-Dawn, Dusk,” Willow explained.

“You decided,” Giles explained, “I think we should wait to see what this other girl wants to be called, he took a deep breath and started to speak before there could be any more interruptions, “Now where was I...?”

“'As I understand it, if this other-Dawn...'” Cordelia prompted helpfully.

“Thank-you,” Giles nodded his thanks to Cordy, “If _Dusk_ is being held prisoner at Buffy's mother's house all we need to do would be to open a portal, rush in, grab the girl and then jump back into our own reality...?”

“Lets do the 'time warp again',” Xander said, he turned to Giles, “do you think there'll be a lot of jumping to the right coz my back has been giving me problems lately...”

“It has,” Buffy cried supporting her boyfriend, “sometimes it gets so bad I almost always have to get on top!”

“On top?” Giles asked before he realised what Buffy was talking about, “Oh good grief,” he sighed as Tina giggled, “'on top', its like being trapped in an asylum for the sex crazed.”

“Urm,” Tara tried to keep a straight face, “that's r-right but I get the feeling that time might be d-different. L-like it was mid-morning when I did the spell at home and early afternoon when I arrived here.”

“Hopefully that won't cause us any problems,” Giles decided it was time to get organised, “Right, lets set things in motion...Willow, Cordelia could you help Tara find everything she needs for her 'spell'?”

“Dinero, Giles,” Willow held out her hand, “poor students here.”

“Here,” Giles got out his wallet and handed them a credit card, “as this is official business you can use the Council credit card...”

“Oh goodie!” Cordy snatched the card from Giles' hand.

“And I will be reading the monthly statement, so don't get distracted by any clothes shops you might pass.”

“Spoil sport,” Willow muttered darkly.

“Buffy, Xander,” Giles turned to the young couple sitting on his sofa, “I think it wise that you explain everything that's going to happen to your mother while Xander talks to Dawn,” Xander and Dawn had had a sort of little sister/big brother relationship going on for years; the fact was that Xander talked to Dawn like she was 'grown-up' while Dawn had a little crush on Xander, whatever the relationship Xander always seemed to be able to put things over too Dawn a lot easier than Buffy ever could.

“Got it, G-man,” Xander nodded as everyone started to get up and start out on there assigned tasks.

“Hey,” Buffy cried as she realised something, “what are you gonna do Giles?”

“Tina and myself will stay here and co-ordinate,” Giles replied straight faced.

“ _Co-ordinate_?” Cordelia said suspiciously, “Why can't Willow and I _co-ordinate_?”

“Co-ordinate?” Willow frowned, “Oh! you mean _co-ordinate_!?”

“I'll be glad when I can retire,” Giles muttered.

“No you won't,” Tina went over and hugged Giles, “you know you'd miss all the innuendoes and deliberate misunderstandings.”

“I suppose you're right,” Giles said with another heart felt sign.

0=0=0=0

**Sunnydale 'A'.**

Impatiently pacing her poky, little motel room, Faith waited for it to get dark enough to go out. It was Thursday and Spike had called early that morning that he'd definitely have the SUV and guns that she wanted by tonight. Faith couldn't wait to get on with the next part of her plan, Gwen Poste would have hated it, she'd have said it was too impetuous, too dangerous, too much chance of getting killed, but her watcher wasn't there, she was dead, more than likely killed by the people she was going to kill tomorrow.

Tomorrow, Faith would start her killing spree, she'd tack down Giles, Buffy and Willow probably Xander too. The witch, Tara Maclay and Buffy's squeeze, Cordelia Chase would probably survive the day as long as they didn't get in the way, but the others were just so much dead meat, or dust. Then there was the problem of what to do about Spike, he was almost a Master Vampire so could she in all conscience leave Sunnydale in his power. On the one hand Spike was all for the status-qua, he was unlikely to bring about the apocalypse, in fact he'd helped prevent a couple, on the other hand he was a blood sucking, murdering, fiend. Was the 'devil you knew' better than whatever might move in to fill the void left by Spike, or should she leave him in place and hope that self interest would prevent him from doing anything stupid. Faith didn't know, she couldn't make up her mind and decided to 'wait and see'.

Another thing that was on her mind was; where exactly was Tara Maclay? She'd disappeared on Tuesday morning and Buffy and her pals had been turning Sunnydale up-side-down ever since. Spike had told Faith that no one was admitting to having killed or kidnapped the witch. Perhaps, Faith smirked to herself, the witch had decided that Sunnydale wasn't for her and had headed for the hills. Faith knew that the witch had been using magic to protect herself from the corrosive effects of the hellmouth. Maybe she'd just got tired, maybe she'd run out of magic, maybe she'd been hit by a truck or was lying drunk in a bar somewhere. Wherever she'd gone, Faith hoped she'd stay away until after she'd done what needed to be done.

Looking out of her grubby window, Faith saw that the sun was down and the street lights were just coming one. It was time to go, it was time to meet Spike and...well, she still couldn't decide if Spike was going to survive the night.

0=0=0=0


	8. Chapter 8

8.

**Sunnydale 'A'.**

Walking through the darkening streets and through the warehouse district towards the Bronze, Faith kept a weary eye open for Buffy and her friends. It wouldn't do for her to bump into Buffy or her hangers-on so close to her putting her master plan into operation. So, why was she going to the Bronze, the main hang out of the 'Buffy Bitch' and her friends? To be honest, Faith wouldn't have gone anywhere near the place unless Spike had insisted on meeting her there. Smiling to herself as she walked along the rain wet streets, Faith could see where Spike was coming from; Slayer and Vampire had never really trusted each other (no one truly trusted anyone in this 'shithole' of a town) no doubt Spike had put two and two together. Realising that after Faith had 'cleaned house' she'd be heading as far away from Sunny-hell as she could, Spike probably didn't want to be one of the things Faith 'cleaned up'. So, when he'd phoned to tell her he'd got everything she wanted he'd demanded that they met in a public place. Of course that wouldn't save him.

Arriving outside the Bronze, Faith unzipped her jacket and thrust her cleavage in the door guy's face, he let her in without demanding the usual five-dollar cover charge. Damn, she told herself, she really hated this town. Okay, yeah, she was hot and didn't mind showing it off, but to use sex so she didn't have to pay a cover charge to get into a crappy little night club like The Bronze that just showed how low she'd sunk in the few months she'd been in town. Whatever, she sighed as she pushed her way between the sweaty bodies on the dance floor, it might have been worse, she could have screwed the guy!

“Get a room,” Faith said as she pushed a couple, who were almost having sex on the dance floor, out of her way.

Finding the stairs up to the top deck, Faith paused to take a look around, seeing none of Buffy's friends or the bitch herself she mounted the stairs and headed on up to the upper seating area. Now she thought about it, Buffy and her hangers on where probably still looking for their pet witch, which was why they weren't there. No doubt they were beating some demon to a bloody pulp in the hopes of finding the broom riding bitch, Faith laughed nastily as she stood looking for Spike, she bet herself that Tara rode Xander harder than she did any broom handle, the quiet, mousy ones were always animals in the sack. Stopping as she found herself imagining what Harris and his witch did in bed, Faith shook her head to clear it of the wild sexual fantasies that had intruded on her mind.

“Damn-it!” Faith cursed softly, “I gotta get outta this place, like yesterday!”

Seeing Spike sitting alone at a table in a dark corner, she headed on over to him.

“Evenin' Slayer,” Spike looked up at Faith as she approached, “wanna drink before we do our business?”

“Nah,” Faith shook her head not bothering to even sit down, “you get everything I want?”

“Yeah,” Spike nodded as he leered up at her, “as long as you've got the money.”

“Three and a half grand,” Faith patted the bundle of bills in her jacket pocket; it had cleaned her out but it would be worth it, plus; it wasn't as if Spike was going to keep the money.

“You know,” Spike spoke softly as he stood up, “you could work some of the bill off in other ways, Slayer.”

“Get outta here, fang boy,” Faith snapped back but managed to control her temper, she'd do nothing until Spike had handed everything over, “you've got no chance an' anyway, I'm outta this crap hole by tomorrow morning.”

“Fair enough,” Spike shrugged, he wasn't one to beat a dead horse, “come on I've got everything stashed in a warehouse a couple of blocks over.”

Following Spike out of the Bronze, Faith noticed that the couple who's almost been having sex on the dance floor were now actually _having_ sex on the dance floor, but no one seemed to notice or if they did, they didn't appear to care.

“Freakin' Sunnydale,” Faith sighed as she stepped outside into the fresh night air.

“What was that?” Spike asked as he paused to look at her over his shoulder.

“Nothing,” Faith watched as the vampire didn't start to move again, he just stood there grinning at her until she had to ask, “What's ya problem man?”

“Just thinking...”

“That'd be a first,” Faith quipped back.

“No I was just thinking that you an' me coulda been good together,” Spike's smile grew wider, he was obviously thinking of all the really down and dirty stuff they could do together.

“Yeah?” Faith pointedly zipped up her jacket and hid her cleavage from view, “Looks like we'll never find out...”

“Whatever,” Spike shrugged and produced a lit cigarette from the pocket of his leather duster, “come on its down here a ways.”

Following Spike and the little trail of smoke he left in the air behind him, Faith surreptitiously checked the knife and stake she was carrying, maybe she'd need them maybe she wouldn't, but, like a Boy Scout, Faith believed in being prepared. They'd only gone about half a block when Spike stopped at a door in the side of a rundown warehouse, producing a key he unlocked the door and lead the way inside.

“Come on Slayer,” he called from inside, “since you've decided to keep you're legs crossed, I wanna get this over with...I've got things to do.”

Pausing in the door way, Faith let her senses out, she felt no danger, other than the pretty low level threat projected by Spike himself. So, fairly sure this wasn't a trap she stepped into the pitch darkness of the warehouse and was almost immediately blinded as Spike switched on the lights. Blinking away the tears that blinded her eyes for a moment, Faith quickly saw that she wasn't about to be attacked. What she did see however was a big, dark blue, Jeep SUV standing in the middle of the otherwise empty warehouse.

“You like it?” Spike gestured like a stage magician towards the vehicle.

“If it goes,” Faith replied as she walked over towards the Jeep; it wasn't new but it wasn't old either; Faith smiled, Spike was good, he'd picked her out something that wouldn't be noticed.

“Perfect working order,” Spike grinned at her, “false plates and documentation plus a full tank of petrol.”

“Keys?” Faith held out her hand.

Taking the keys, Faith opened the driver's door and climbed inside. Getting comfortable behind the wheel Faith smiled to herself, this was perfect, she told herself, now to see if it worked. Putting the keys into the ignition she twisted the keys and was rewarded by hearing the engine burst into life. Listening carefully, Faith decided that Spike hadn't sold her a lemon; she wasn't an expert on engines but she knew enough to recognise that the Jeep would get her out of Sunnydale and to almost anywhere she wanted to go on the west coast.

“Okay, she'll do,” Faith called as she switched off the engine and jumped down onto the floor again.

“She'll do!?” Spike groaned, “Is that the best you can say? I'll have you know I had to kill to get that bloody thing!”

“Yeah I bet ya did,” Faith replied unimpressed, “Guns? Ammo?”

“In the back of the jeep,” Spike sulked.

Walking to the rear of the Jeep, Faith opened the tailgate to find a Model 1911, Colt .45 automatic pistol and a twelve gauge pump action shotgun lying neatly on a blanket in the back of the vehicle. Picking up the weapons she checked them out. Again they weren't new but they'd been well maintained and the serial numbers had been filed off.

“Cool,” Faith nodded satisfied that Spike hadn't screwed her over, “where's the ammo and the spare magazines for the pistol?”

“Where's the money?”

“What?”

“Where's the money?” Spike repeated, “You don't think I'm going to hand over everything until I get paid do you? I know you Slayer, you'd probably ram a tree through my heart and keep the money...I've hidden the ammo where you'll never find it.”

“Okay, you win,” Faith pulled the roll of hundred dollar bills out of her pocket and tossed them over to Spike, “now where's the rounds and mags?”

“In the bin over there,” Spike replied as he deftly caught the bills and started to count them.

Turning, Faith saw the bin Spike was referring to, shaking her head at the ways of vampires she walked over to the storage bin, pulled off the lid and looked inside. There were three spare magazines for the pistol, plus two boxes of shells and half-a-dozen boxes of shells for the shotgun. Collecting up the goodies, Faith made her way back to the Jeep and dumped everything next to the weapons. Checking over the boxes of ammo Faith picked up one of the boxes of shotgun shells and smiled. Spike was just too helpful, of course that wouldn't save him from what she was going to do. In amongst the boxes of double-naught buck-shot was a box of 'Dragon's Breath' incendiary shells.

“Thanks Spike,” Faith called as she started to thumb the incendiaries into the shotgun.

“Pleasure doing business with you,” Spike called back as he counted the money and his cigarette hung from between his lips.

“Yeah,” Faith stepped from behind the Jeep and levelled the shotgun at Spike's middle, “I'm real sorry about this man.”

Spike looked up at the sound of Faith jacking the first shell into the chamber. Firing three times in rapid succession, one on target and one shell each slightly left and right, just in case Spike tried to run, Faith watched as the flames spread over Spike's coat. Frantically he beat at the flames as he stumbled away from her.

“YOU BITCH!” Spike cried as the flames burnt into the leather of his coat.

Firing twice more, Faith watched as Spike fell to the floor and he writhed as the flames spread over his body. Just before she fired again, Spike exploded into a cloud of ash that slowly drifted to the concrete floor of the warehouse. Walking over to Spike's smouldering remains she stood for a moment looking down at what had once been a pretty powerful vampire.

“Cool,” a wide grin spread across Faith's face as she hefted the shotgun in her hand, “this looks like the future of slaying,” she laughed out loud, “I'm just tooooo good!”

Chuckling softly to herself, Faith walked back to the Jeep and started to reload. The shotgun held seven cartridges, so she loaded four shot and three incendiaries alternating between the two types. Once that was done she started to speed load the magazines for her pistol, strong slayer fingers and thumbs easily pushed the big rounds into the magazines. Very soon she had four loaded magazines, that was twenty-eight rounds which left her just over a box of spares. Putting the loaded magazines in the left pocket of her jacket, Faith emptied the spares and distributed them in the pockets of her jeans. For a moment she wished she'd worn cargo pants with their greater pocket capacity, but the jeans she was wearing weren't too tight so they'd do. Finally she put a handful of spare shot gun shells in her right jacket pocket. Satisfied, Faith took her weapons around to the driver's seat. She wedged the shotgun between the driver's and passenger's seat and put the colt into the map pocket of the driver's door. Climbing in behind the wheel she glanced at her watch, it was only a little after midnight.

“Plenty of time,” she told herself before settling down to get a little sleep before completing the second part of her plan.

0=0=0=0

It was about four in the morning and the sky was starting to lighten as Faith slipped silently between the shrubs and bushes behind Giles' apartment block. Running stealthily across the little lawn, she pressed herself up against the wall of the block, she scanned the area, everything was quiet. Smiling, Faith edged over to the window that would allow her to gain access to Giles' apartment. Checking her surroundings once more Faith took her jemmy and inserted it between the window and the window frame. The window catch was old and the screws were loose, they stood little chance against a metal bar with slayer strength behind it.

Freezing as the window came free and squeaked, Faith listened for any sign of movement from within, when none came she slowly opened the window and climbed inside. Climbing into Giles' living room, Faith congratulated herself on not losing her touch. A misspent youth of breaking and entering was a useful skill set for a slayer who was out to be sneaky. Checking that her pistol was still securely stuffed into the waistband of her jeans behind her back, it wouldn't do for it to 'CLUNK!' onto the floor as she sneaked about. Satisfied that the pistol wasn't going to embarrass her she pulled the long, narrow bladed dagger from the sheath strapped to her left forearm, she tested the point with her thumb and smiled. The knife would do what she intended.

Creeping over to the stairs, Faith reflected on how the Council hadn't been too pleased when she'd called them to tell them what she'd got planned. As she'd expected, Travis had obviously known more about the situation in Sunnydale than he'd let on so he'd reluctantly agreed to her plan. However, he'd told Faith to try and take Buffy and Giles alive, Faith had no intention of trying to obey Tarvis' order. Keeping to the side of the stairs so there'd be less chance of them squeaking and waking Giles, Faith made her way up stairs until she was standing at the entrance to Giles sleeping area.

“Oh crap!” Faith breathed hardly making a sound.

There was someone in bed with Giles, a blonde someone and just for a moment Faith thought she'd caught Buffy and Giles in bed together.

“Nah,” Faith shook her head, “even they ain't that sick.”

Moving towards the bed, Faith recognised the other body as belonging to a waitress who worked at a bar a couple of blocks over. Okay, Faith told herself this could still all work out and she shouldn't have to kill the woman, as long as she did this right. Moving silently around to Giles' side of the bed, Faith reached out with her left hand. Moving with slayer speed she clamped her left hand over Giles' mouth as her right raised the dagger ready to strike. Stabbing down with just the right amount of force, Faith saw the blade penetrate the blankets and go on through into Giles' heart. The watcher hardly had time to register that he was dead before he shuddered and died under Faith's hand.

“Cool,” Faith congratulated herself as she slipped the knife from Giles' chest.

With luck the waitress wouldn't wake up for two or three more hours and when she did she'd be too busy screaming at finding herself in bed with a dead man to do anything positive, like warn Buffy. Of course the police would get involved, but Sunnydale PD was mind numbingly stupid they'd probably never work out who'd killed the old librarian and try to pin it on the waitress.

Making her way swiftly and silently back down stairs, Faith wiped the blood from her blade and slipped it back into its sheath. Climbing out of the window she crossed the gardens behind the apartments to head back to the side road where she'd left her Jeep. Stopping on a corner she checked that no one was watching or following her, the sky was nearly as bright as daylight now so it would be easy enough for some one to see her and remember the girl in the biker's jacket acting all suspiciously when the police canvassed the area.

Arriving back at her Jeep, Faith climbed in, started the engine and drove off towards her next target at a steady twenty-five miles an hour; she was in no rush and she didn't want any cops wondering why she was driving too fast or too slowly through Sunnydale at this time of the morning. Checking the clock on her dash board, Faith saw that she had nearly five hours to wait until she could deal with her next target. Driving towards Xander's apartment block, Faith actually felt relieved that his witchy girlfriend had gone missing. It meant there was less chance of her having to kill the girl. Like Cordelia Chase, Faith had sort of decided that Tara Maclay was an innocent, or at least not as guilty as the rest and she wouldn't kill either of them if she didn't have to.

Arriving at Xander's block, Faith drove her Jeep around to the parking lot at the rear of the building. Today she was in luck there was a spot free right next to Harris' car. Pulling up next to Harris' vehicle, Faith checked her watch again, just over two hours to go. Every morning at about nine o'clock, Xander Harris would come down from his apartment and drive to work. Faith had watched him for nearly a week, every morning it was the same, she'd even watched him yesterday, there'd been no change to his schedule. Dropping her seat into the reclined position, Faith settled down to wait with the Colt cradled in her hands. Closing her eyes she napped until it was time for stage three of her plan to be put into action.

0=0=0=0


	9. Chapter 9

9.

**Sunnydale 'A'.**

Waking with a start, Faith almost panicked believing she'd missed Xander. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes she began to sit up but stopped when she noticed movement reflected in her rear view mirror. Forcing herself into full wakefulness her eyes locked on the mirror, it was Harris, she wasn't too late. Searching for her pistol, Faith almost panicked again when it wasn't where she'd left it. Her desperate hands searched between her legs, down the back of the seat and finally the floor underneath it. Breathing a sigh of relief as her fingers came into contact with the cold, hard metal of the weapon, Faith looked up again. Harris was now half way across the parking lot searching in his pocket for his keys. Frowning for a moment, Faith noted that for a guy who's girlfriend had gone missing he didn't look too upset. 

Whatever, Faith shrugged, whether Harris was upset or not wasn't going to matter in a few more minutes. Pulling back the slide of her pistol a fraction, Faith checked there was a round in the chamber before cocking the weapon. Harris had almost reached his car, his keys were in his hand and he wasn't paying very much attention to things around him and why should he? Night time in Sunnydale was the most dangerous time of day, in the daylight Sunny-hell wasn't any worse than any other town; plus, Harris didn't know he had a big, fat target painted on his forehead. Shifting slightly, Faith opened the driver's door and slipped out of the Jeep. Keeping low, she moved swiftly and silently around to the front of her vehicle. Hearing Harris' car door open and close she moved so she was now crouching in front of his car, a second later the motor burst into life. 

Jumping up, Faith held her pistol in both hands, even for a slayer the recoil of the Colt was brutal and she wanted to be sure she hit her target with her first shot. Harris wasn't even looking her way, he was looking over his shoulder before reversing out of his parking bay. Not even actually aiming, she was a slayer after all, she didn't really have to, this was all instinctual, Faith pointed the muzzle of her weapon at Harris' head and fired once. The Colt bucked in her hand and there was an enormous explosion, she'd forgotten just how loud firearms could be. When she looked again, she found that she'd blown a neat hole in the windshield of the car and the glass had cracked into crazy patterns. Shifting to the side to get a better look, Faith saw that her bullet had entered Xander's skull just behind his right ear. There was blood splattered over his seat and the back seat and on the windows in the back of the car. Harris was dead, the Colt's bullet had made a neat .45 calibre hole in the back of his skull and had blown out the front of his head. Xander Harris wouldn't be raping any more fourteen year old girls.

“You're dead, motherfucker,” the profanity made Faith giggle when she remembered who he had been 'fucking', but then maybe the low-life had been screwing Mrs S too.

Moving back towards her Jeep, Faith told herself she had no time to worry about who Harris had or hadn't been screwing. Someone was bound to have heard the shot and it wouldn't take long for them to call the police. Quickly climbing back into her car, Faith started the engine and backed out of the bay next to Harris'. Telling herself to take it easy she drove the Jeep towards the exit. Okay, so someone must have heard the shot, but it was unlikely that anyone had seen her fire it. The parking lot was overlooked by apartments, most of the people who lived there would be on their way to work at this time of day. As long as she kept her head and didn't drive too fast the chances were that no one would remember her until it was too late; she had to keep herself out of the police's hands at least until after she'd rescued Dawn Summers.

Turning on to the road that would eventually lead her to Revelo Drive, Faith checked her rear view mirrors, as she'd suspected there was no sign of pursuit, she couldn't even hear any sirens. Cool, Faith nodded to herself, so far so good. The next part of the mission could be the hardest, once she got to 'Bitch-Buffy's' house there was a possibility of her having to face three people out to get her. There would be Cordelia Chase; Faith didn't want to kill the young woman but that wouldn't stop her if she got in the way. The vamp, formally known as Willow Rosenberg might take it into her head to get involved and, of course, there was Buffy herself. Although Faith was timing things so she arrived just before Buffy left for work, there was always the chance that Buffy might have changed her shift or done something else to unknowingly screw with Faith's plans.

0=0=0=0

As it turned out, Faith pulled up in Revelo Drive, a little down the street from Buffy's house just as Buffy left for work. Smiling at the picture of domestic bliss that unfolded before her eyes, she watched as Cordelia kissed her lover, before Buffy headed on down the garden path and down the road towards the centre of town and the Expresso Pump. Hunkering down in her seat so Buffy wouldn't see her if she happened to look back her way, Faith resigned herself to waiting until she was sure that Buffy was out of the way. The reason behind her entire plan was that she couldn't be one-hundred-percent certain that she could take Buffy in a fight. If everything went as Faith hoped it would, she'd be long gone before Buffy even knew what had happened. There was really no reason for the cops to contact her when they found Harris and Giles' bodies. Buffy wasn't related to either of them, they'd only contact her once they started looking at the victims friends.

Watching the street over the top of her steering wheel, Faith slipped the magazine from her pistol and replaced the spent round with a spare from her pocket. Counting the one in the gun she had four full magazines, with the loose rounds in her pockets they were more than enough for what she had planned. Deciding to leave the shotgun where it was, Faith opened her door, jumped down on to the road and hiding the Colt under her jacket headed towards Buffy's house. What she'd got planned was a full frontal assault that would hopefully give no one time to screw with her. Turning into the Summers' drive, Faith trotted up to the front door. Hiding the pistol behind her back, Faith knocked on the door.

“Come on, come on,” Faith muttered under her breath as she nervously checked the street for cops.

Eventually she heard the sound of approaching footsteps just a couple of seconds before the door was opened. Just for a moment Faith found herself looking into Cordelia's eyes; one part of her mind was telling her that she could see what Buffy saw in the young woman, she was hot. Another, much more violent part of her mind was telling her that she needed to move and move now! Cordelia smiled politely at her visitor, she didn't recognise her although there was something familiar about her. Just as recognition was dawning, Cordy's eyes went wide as Faith's left hand grabbed her by the throat while her right brought up the pistol and pointed it at her head and Cordy found herself being pushed back into the house.

“Keep quiet and do what ya told an' ya won't get hurt,” Faith spoke in a low voice as she kicked the door shut with her foot; terrified, Cordy nodded her head as she tried to loosen Faith grip on her throat. “Don't do that,” Faith knocked Cordy's hands away with her pistol, “now tell me, the vamp is she asleep?”

Cordelia nodded as she was pushed up against the wall.

“Upstairs?”

Again Cordy nodded.

“The kid?”

Of there own accord, Cordelia's eyes flicked towards the door to the basement.

“Move!” Faith pulled Cordy away from the wall before pushing her down the short corridor towards the basement door.

Stopping outside the door to Dawn's prison, Faith checked out all the locks and bolts, Summers obviously didn't want her 'sister' to escape.

“Keys?” Faith demanded; Cordelia pointed frantically to the kitchen, “Okay move!”

Faith pushed Cordy into the kitchen and let the terrified young woman point out the keys, letting go of Cordelia's throat, Faith pointed her pistol right between the brunette's eyes.

“One word, one sound an' ya dead,” Faith hissed, “you get me?”

“Yes,” came Cordy's strangled reply as she massaged the finger marks on her neck.

“I've only come for the kid...”

“Good...” Now there was a reply Faith hadn't expected to hear. “Get her out of here I won't try and stop you,” Cordelia explained as she backed away from Faith, “just hit me or something before you go, I don't want Buffy to have any reason to think I didn't try to stop you.”

“What!?” Faith gasped.

“Look I love Buffy but...” Cordy hesitated so long that Faith thought she wasn't going to say anything else, “...but, its this place it does something to people, I mean look at me,” Cordy gave a forced smile, “I used to be such a bitch, now I'm nice to people...all the time! And I love Buffy and I don't want that to change...”

“Okay,” Faith nodded; this place was so sick she just couldn't handle it, “I'll give you a black eye before I go.”

“Thanks,” Cordy sighed with relief.

Turning away from the poor, mixed up woman, Faith took the keys and headed for the cellar door. Quickly she drew the blots and unlocked the locks. The door even felt heavy to her as she pulled it open. Just as she was stepping inside the front door opened and she heard Buffy calling to Cordelia.

“Cordy, I forgot my...” Buffy called but got no time to finish what she was saying as a fusillade of shots split the calm of a Revelo Drive morning and splintered the wood of the door frame and door.

Not knowing if she'd hit anything, Faith threw herself through the door and into the cellar. Pulling the door closed behind her, Faith discovered a major problem about breaking into a prison; cells had no locks on the _inside_.

“Damn-it!” Faith cursed as she swapped her empty magazine for a full one and headed down stairs into the basement proper.

Stopping at the foot of the stairs, Faith looked back up towards the door only to see it start to open. Firing a couple of shots which clanged off the metal door and door-frame, Faith told herself that that would hold Buffy for a while...for a short while. Buffy coming home like this wasn't something Faith'd planned for, but, she had the gun and she _was_ a slayer and she only needed to get lucky once.

“So, its time,” the words came to Faith's ears from across the cellar, “what is it huh? The council send you to kill me?”

Looking towards the voice, Faith saw a thin girl with long brown untidy hair wearing a dress that was much too big for her standing next to a military style metal framed bed.

“Nah kid,” Faith glanced from the girl back towards the door, “I've come to get you outta here...”

Seeing the door start to open again, Faith sent a round to bounce off the steel door and bury itself in the wall. The door slammed shut again only this time Faith heard bolts being firmly pushed into place.

“Crap!” Faith started across the room towards where Dawn stood, “Your big sis is totally screwing with my plans.”

“Plan!?” Dawn almost laughed, “You had a plan? How were you planning to get rid of this? You've not even brought bolt cutters or anything.”

As she spoke Dawn pushed her hair to one side and exposed the chain and collar that connected her to the wall.

“Easy,” Faith reached over, took the collar and its padlock and twisted them in her hands, the lock disintegrated and the collar fell from Dawn's neck.

“Thank-you!” Dawn sobbed as she threw her arms around Faith's neck and hugged her.

“Hey easy there tiger,” Faith patted Dawn on her back self consciously as she half heartedly returned Dawn's embrace; so few people had shown Faith any gratitude or affection since her mother had been killed that she didn't know how to respond, “We're not outta here yet...”

“Okay...” Dawn let go of Faith and stepped back as she wiped the tears from her eyes, “...maybe the windows?”

“Yeah, windows...” Faith tried the windows, but they were all firmly locked shut with metal shutters welded to metal frames. 

Given time she'd be able to smash through the wall but Buffy would hear her and be waiting for her when she climbed outside. Looking around the basement prison, Faith saw nothing that would help in any escape attempt. All Buffy needed to do was to wait them out and then come down and kill them both after a week or two, but Faith doubted Buffy would wait that long. But, Faith reminded herself, she only needed to get lucky once.

“What do we do now?” Dawn asked.

“Not one for thinking much,” Faith admitted, “my Watcher was always raggin' me out about that...you got any ideas?”

Just as Dawn was opening her mouth to reply the room began to shake.

“That's all we need, a freakin' earthquake!” Faith laughed slightly hysterically. 

Shocked and astounded, Faith watched wide eyes as the glowing blue pillar of light appeared in the centre of the room; she'd never actually seen a magic portal before but that's what she guessed this was. Obviously Buffy couldn't wait and had got her pet witch to open a door way into the room. It wouldn't do her any good, Faith told herself as she pointed her weapon at the portal; Buffy would be dead the second she stepped through into the basement. No sooner had she thought these thoughts that someone did come through the portal and much to Faith's surprise it wasn't Buffy, it was the witch, Tara Maclay.

“D-Dawnie,” Tara looked from Dawn to Faith, “M-Miss Lehane...”

Faith reflected on the fact that _no one_ had _ever_ called her 'Miss Lehane' before.

“...if y-you w-want to live,” Tara held her hand out to Dawn, “c-come with me...”

0=0=0=0

**Later, Sunnydale 'B'.**

It'd been a long day, and for some people it had been a very long day due to the time difference between Sunnydale 'A' and 'B' as everyone had decided to call the two realities.

“Gotta say B,” Faith said as she sat on the Summers' veranda next to Buffy, “you're way cooler than the other Buffy...like for starters you ain't tryin' to kill me.”

“You're welcome,” Buffy replied; in the short time she'd known Faith, Buffy found she kinda liked her, she even liked being called 'B', “So, what are you going to do with your new life in a new reality?”

“Thought I'd stick around awhile,” Faith shrugged, unlike Tara, Faith had decided to stay in this reality, “if that's okay with you?”

“That'd be great!” Buffy took one of Faith's hands in her own. “Apart from the fact that it'll be safer to have two slayers on the Nexus...I've sorta grown to like you...”

“Like me?” Faith frowned, “We've only just met...”

“I mean it'll be nice to have someone to talk to who knows what its like being the...” Buffy corrected herself, “...I mean 'a' slayer.”

“No problemo,” Faith replied with a grin, “I can hang around and we'll keep each other alive, okay?”

“Great!” Buffy smiled happily.

0=0=0=0

**Later, Sunnydale 'A'.**

“Please Buffy,” Cordelia almost begged, “lets leave this hell hole...I mean what's keeping us here?” Cordy didn't give Buffy a chance to reply as they sat next to each other on their bed, “Faith's gone, Dawn's gone, no one's seen Glory in what, like three months? There's nothing for us here, nothing to keep you here.”

“There's the hellmouth,” Buffy pointed out; Cordy could hear the hesitation in her voice.

“Screw the hellmouth, what's it ever done but hurt you and everyone you love?” Cordy demanded as Buffy's convictions started to falter, “Lets move away from here, leave the hellmouth to Willow and all the other monsters. With my brains and your muscle there's nothing we can't achieve.

Cordelia didn't know if there relationship would survive a move away from Sunnydale, but she had to try. So, maybe she'd turn back into the cold, heartless, bitch she'd once been, but then she remembered she'd started to change, become a better person, after she'd met Buffy. Perhaps it wasn't the hellmouth casting some sick spell over the pair of them; maybe they did truly love each other.

“Please Buffy,” Cordelia considered using sex to get her way, but Buffy was a girl so it probably wouldn't work, “lets go in the morning...please...”

“Okay,” Buffy sighed before turning and kissing Cordy.

0=0=0=0

**Sunnydale 'B'.**

“I just know we're goin' to have soooo much fun!” Dawn told Dawn/Dusk as they got ready for bed, “We can really screw with people's heads at school.”

“Yeah,” Dusk agreed, but without as much energetic enthusiasm as her new 'twin' sister, it had been a very long day and she was still exhausted from being on 'hunger rations' for the last three months, “we will.”

“Hey!” a look of concern crossed Dawn's face as she saw the lost look in Dusk's eyes, “I'm sorry you must be totally tired and I'm going on about how we're going to screw with people's minds while all you want to do is sleep.”

“Thanks,” Dusk took Dawn's hand, “and I promise I'll be totally enthusiastic in the morning.”

“Okay,” Dawn smiled as she wondered what her other self must have gone through; she knew how Dusk had lost her mother and how her sister had turned on her; but there was other stuff that Dawn could only guess at, all she could do was be a good sister and help as much as she could, “look I'll always try and be there for you...” Dawn looked at her bed, “...and it looks like for tonight I'm going to be there for you a lot. Sorry about sharing a bed, but like tomorrow you can help me an' mom totally clean out my old room,” Dawn had been given Buffy's room when her sister had moved in with Xander.

“Do you mind sharing your mom with me?” Dusked asked as she climbed into bed.

“At first maybe,” Dawn admitted, “but I think I'll get over it, like there's plenty of mom to go round,” she giggled.

“Yeah,” Dusk agreed, “I don't want to sound mean or anything but your mom is sorta 'bigger' than my mom was.”

“She's 'comfortable',” Dawn explained.

“Thanks Dawn...” Dusk yawned as she fought to keep her eyes open.

“No problemo, sis,” Dawn rolled over and switched off the bedside light before lying back down next to the one person she'd really wanted to meet ever since Buffy had moved out, a new sister and friend.

0=0=0=0

**Sunnydale 'A', several weeks later.**

The tactical nuclear weapon had been depressingly easy to find. The Council had 'acquired' it from one of the former Soviet Republics; they'd landed it in Mexico, loaded it onto a truck and driven it across the border into the United States. They'd really not had to try all that hard, border security was pretty lax. The Council's, Covert Action Team had parked the truck in the parking lot of Sunnydale High before setting the fail-safe timer and heading for Canada.

Now Travis sat in the Council's London HQ watching a live feed from a Chinese spy satellite that was passing over Sunnydale. Since Miss Summers had vanished and her Watcher had been murdered (the Council was fairly sure that Faith was responsible) Sunnydale had started its inexorable slide into hell and that slide was being directed by the vampire that inhabited Willow Rosenberg's (a one time associate of the slayer) corpse. The Council had quickly decided that Sunnydale was beyond saving and Travis had ordered 'Operation Clean Sweep'. The Council had destroyed cities before when the forces of Darkness had taken over; there'd been, Rome in 63, London in 1666, Moscow _and_ Washington in 1812, Nagasaki in 1945 to name but five out of so many, although Nagasaki had been a case of two birds with one stone.

This time the blame for the destruction of another town would be lain at the door of one of the many groups of religious fanatics with beards and bad attitudes. After all the terrorists had been planning something like this for years only they could never get their blood drenched hands on a bomb. Perhaps, Travis told himself, some good might come out of this. After all America would strike back a thousand fold, Travis smiled, the Americans were experts at manipulating the vast amounts of firepower they had at their disposal, he certainly wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of their vengeance.

“Its nearly time Sir,” one of Travis' assistants drew his attention back to the TV screen.

Watching he saw a bright flash appear over Sunnydale followed by a large cloud that climbed into the clear sky. It was done, everything within a few miles of Sunnydale High school was now just so much radioactive ash; the Hellmouth had been sealed once and for all.

“Call Number Ten and have the Prime Minster send his message of condolence and support for any action the Americans might wish to take in about...” Travis looked at his watch, “...lets say, fifteen minutes, after all we don't want to appear too eager now do we?”

“No Sir,” the assistant agreed before heading out of the room leaving Travis with his own thoughts.

0=0=0=0

**Sunnydale 'B', several weeks later.**

Waking up in the middle of the night, Glory didn't at first know where she was, she appeared to be standing in the bedroom of a teenage girl. Looking down at the bed she saw a girl lying there asleep. It was only then that she realised she'd found The Key, she could go home and leave this insignificant reality to scream in torment forever. Reaching for The Key, Glory felt herself begin to fade she was changing, she was... Never getting a chance to finish her thought, Glory faded as she turned back into a fourteen year old girl never to resurface.

“Dusk?” a sleepy voice called from the bed, “What are you doing in here?”

“I-I don't know,” Dusk tried to think why she'd be in her sister's room in the middle of the night.

“You probably had a bad dream,” Dawn knew that her twin had been suffering from nightmares and who wouldn't after all she'd been through, “here,” Dawn threw back her covers, “you can sleep with me, I'll keep the dreams away for you.”

“Thanks,” Dusk replied tiredly as she climbed into Dawn's bed and snuggled down under the duvet, “Dawn...”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

“Cool,” Dawn smiled as she slowly dropped off to sleep with her arm around her sister.

The End.


End file.
